Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a rise. Reference to the foundations of a church (int. dims. c. 17.67m x 9.45m) known as Kyleaderry or Church of the Oak Grove (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 281). No visible surface remains.
Described by Carrigan as 'There was a very ancient church here. Its name was Kyleaderry, the Church of the Oak Grove. It stood within the Chapel Yard, an irregularly shaped area, half an acre in extent, surrounded by a rampart and fosse. The foundations of the church yet remain, and show it to have been an oblong building 58 ft. long and 31 ft. wide, the walls being about 3 ft. thick. The graveyard was was beside it to the south, has been obsolete for for so long a time that there are no appearances of headstones or graves. On the Ordnance Map the site of this church is marked "Site of R. C. Chapel". Two or three hundred yards to the west, there is a large enclosure surrounded by a stone wall, which was probably the site of some old building, perhaps a castle (LA034-016001-)' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 281)

Revisited by Caimin O'Brien on the 03 May 2007. Site consists of a poorly preserved church consisting of only the wall foundations of a rectangular undivided church (approx. int. dims. 6.3m N-S; 15m E-W; wall T approx. 1m; wall H 0.5-0.8m) situated within the NW quadrant of a large roughly rectangular-shaped enclosure (int. dims. 94m N-S; 52m E-W) defined by an earth and stone bank (top Wth 1.5m; base Wth 3m; int. h 0.4m; ext. H 0.8m) and external fosse (Wth 1m; ext. D 0.2m). The W end of the church is intersected by the bank of the enclosure on the W side. No gravemarkers or any low stones visible inside this large enclosure. On the first edition of the OS six-inch map this building is indicated as 'Site of R.C. Chapel'. Possibly the site of an 18th century penal chapel.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 17 December 2007