Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

On raised ground at the base of a hill which rises to the S-SE, in rolling pasture overlooking a broad plain from NW-N. The land drops away steeply immediately N of the church where there is a small valley with St. Nicholas’s holy well (KK030-008007-) to the NW in this valley. The land rises again immediately N of this forming a hillock on which stands a high cross (KK030-008004-), the whole being encompassed by the graveyard (KK030-008010-). According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 4, 311-2) a monastery here was founded by St. Gobán Fionn early in the 7th century whose festival is celebrated on the 6th of December. The monastery would have been enclosed by a circular enclosure which is not currently visible at ground level. There is a curving scarp (L c. 40m) c. 13m N of the N wall of the graveyard which may be either an earlier graveyard boundary or could be portion of the ecclesiastical enclosure. The scarp terminates before reaching the field boundary to the E and this seems to be where a pathway, as indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. 6-inch OS map, ran from the S side of the village and entered the graveyard a the NE end of the N side.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 8 August 2017

References

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