Church

The National Monuments Service's description

May have been built originally by the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, from whom Johnstown village took its name. Stands on a slight rise near the centre of a graveyard (KD019-014002-). A partially restored, rectangular structure (int dims L 13.4m E-W; Wth 5.2m) is built of rubble, limestone masonry (av. wall T 0.9m), with some tufa and granite boulders, and may once have been a chancel: the W gable wall contains a large, rebuilt, two-centred arch (H 4.3m; Wth 2.3m) erected off-centre, to the N. It incorporated the N, tufa-built jamb of an earlier, wider arch, the S jamb of which is visible in the masonry to the S. The entrance doorway (Wth 1.2m) in the N wall may be a later insertion. The E gable wall contains a restored double ogee-headed window in a broad, square-headed embrasure with a steeply plunging sill. Most of the S wall has been rebuilt, and a round-headed window-piece is reused to face a small niche on the inner wall face to act as a stoup. The interior contains the 15th century 'Flatesbury Monument' (KD019-014003-), a medieval font (KD019-014004-) and a 19th century high cross marking the burials of the Bourke (Mayo) family. (Herity 2002, 60 (176); Fitzgerald 1903-5, 257; Meagher 1979-80, 117)

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 10 June 2011