Church

The National Monuments Service's description

On a NE-facing slope, in rough grazing with outcropping bedrock. Within an irregularly shaped graveyard (KK030-004003-) which appears to have been enclosed after 1839, as on the 1st ed. OS 6-inch map it is indicated as unenclosed. There are extensive views to the N. The Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Kells shows a symbol representing the church and glebe lands at Coolaghmore (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin). According to the OS Letters (1839), 'a Patron [is] held here on the first Sunday in September but they have no remembrance of a Patron Saint' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 47).
The church, which is aligned E-W, consists of a square chancel (ext. dims. 8.65m E-W; 8.1m N-S; int. dims. 6.5m square; E wall T 1.3m) with a later nave (int. dims. L 14.8m; W 6.3m; wall T 0.72m) occupying the space between the chancel and the residential tower (KK030-004002-) at the W end. The chancel has traces of an inserted flat-headed E doorway (H 2.05m; ext. Wth 1.35m) with a window above it and a window in the N and S wall respectively, the latter with a medieval font (KK030-004005-) at its base. There is a door to the nave at W, with a medieval graveslab (KK030-004004-) inset. There is a second medieval graveslab (KK030-004009-) in graveyard.
The nave dates to the mid-18th century and was lit by four opposing lancet windows with brick jambs in the N and S walls, though the most easterly in both walls had brick-arched doorways with small windows above inserted and subsequently blocked up. There are traces of a gallery at the E end. The church was restored in 1818 but decommissioned later in the 19th century (https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/12403004/coolaghflags-catholic-chapel-old-coolaghmore-coolaghflags-co-kilkenny).
A doorway near the NW angle of the nave gives access to the three-storey residential tower.
Carrigan (ibid.) mentions 'two uninscribed coffin-shaped slabs [KK030-004010- and KK030-004011-], with raised crosses' of 13th/14th century date in the graveyard, which appear to be in addition to the two (KK030-004004- and KK030-004009-) identified during fieldwork.

See attached:
KK030-004001-_01 extract from Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Kells (Hib. Reg., courtesy of Trinity College Dublin)

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 18 July 2023

References

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.