Church

The National Monuments Service's description

On an artificially raised area c. 50 SSE of Ballytobin house, with good views to the WSW and NW. The associated graveyard (KK026-020002-) was levelled in the 19th century (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 38 (28-9)). Within the church is a free-standing sandstone font (KK026-020003-). According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 4, 44), the church was dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.
A rectangular church (ext. dims. 12m E-W x 8.3m N-S) constructed of roughly coursed limestone with cut sandstone quoins. The W doorway and some of the windows also have sandstone surrounds. The side walls survive to full height. Only the nave of the church appears to survive, with a well-preserved gable wall between the nave and chancel, containing the voussoirs of a chancel arch. There was a small chamber above the chancel arch, accessed by a narrow stair and lit by a simple flat-headed ope. The chancel arch appears to have been blocked up and a large modern doorway has been inserted. Carrigan describes a credence at the S side of the arch and a locker at the N side (ibid.).
The church was originally entered through a doorway (Wth 0.95m) in the W gable, now blocked up, the remaining sandstone jambs of which are chamfered internally. The door head, described as broken by Carrigan, is missing (ibid.). Externally tie stones project from the N end of the W gable. It is possible that these were a later insertion to accommodate an adjoining building for which there is no other evidence, or, if original, they may be the remains of an antae.
At the E end of the S wall there is a limestone flat-headed single-light window with glazing-bar holes, which is chamfered externally with a hood-moulding with short drop labels, possibly a 16th-century insertion. In the wall opposite this, though at a higher level, there is a broken out window.
Carrigan (ibid.) states that c. 1897, ‘portion of the interior of the church was excavated to a depth of 8ft. [2.4m], in order to construct a burial vault for the Bakers of the adjoining Ballytobin Ho. During the operations, three human skeletons were found resting on the solid rock; they were supposed to be the remains of ecclesiastics, secular or regular, and were again interred close by’. There are a number of headstones within the church and there is a privately owned burial plot adjoining the external W gable.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 10 May 2022

References

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Kilkenny collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Bray.