Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on flat, low-lying ground c. 140m from the S shore of Lough Melvin. The early church of Rosinver was founded by St Maedoc or Mogue in the 6th century (O'Hanlon 1875, vol. 1, 68-70; O'Connell 1937, 204-6) and its erenachs are recorded into the 15th century. The saint is Maodhóg of Ferns (WX015-003002-), who is also known as Aidan. He was descended from the Collas Uais sept of the Oirghialla. A late, probably 16th century, Life records his associations with the churches of Rossinver and Drumlane in Cavan (CV014-028001-), which he is thought to have founded before he settled at Ferns. His death is recorded in the annals in AD 620 or 625, and his feastday was celebrated on the 31 January in both Ferns and at Rosinver (Ó Riain 2011, 432-6).
The church is at the N edge of a rectangular graveyard (dims c. 50m N-S; c. 20-25m E-W) defined by masonry walls. It is an undivided nave and chancel (original ext. dims 14m E-W; 8.6m N-S) built of uncoursed mortared sandstone walls (Wth 0.9m; max. H 5m at E) with dressed quoins surviving almost complete, except the S and W walls that are largely removed. The nave was shortened (L 10.8m) by an inserted W wall that has a blocked up doorway. There is a two-light lancet E window in an embrasure that was modified.
A sandstone cross-slab (Wth 0.53m; H 0.56m plus; T 8-10cm) has an incised cross with expanded terminals (Herity et al. 1997, 105). A second, tapering cross-slab (H 0.73m; Wth 0.32-0.39m; T 5cm) has a circular cross-head in false relief with the shaft incised by a double line (Hartnett 1954c). A third stone with two cupmarks is reused as a headstone. The site of St Mogue's Well (O'Flanagan 1929, 127) lies c. 150m to the NE. (Davies 1946b; Weir 1980a, 173-4)
A new graveyard was commenced E of the entrance lane before 2005 (OSAP). Archaeological testing (18E0055) S of the new graveyard reached subsoil, a grey sand / gravel (D 0.6-0.75m) without encountering archaeological features (Carey 2018), and further testing (19E0042) E of the church revealed a very disturbed area of re-deposited clays, silts and sand incorporating plastics (D 1.6-2.2m) over the gravel subsoil (Carey 2019). (See Excavations.ie: 2019:030)

The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revised upload: 3 July 2017
Amended; 10 January 2020

References

Weir, A. 1980 Early Ireland: a field guide. Belfast. Blackstaff Press.

Ó Riain, P. 2011 A dictionary of Irish Saints. Dublin. Four Courts Press.

Davies, O. 1946b Old churches in the parish of Rossinver, Co. Leitrim. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 2nd Series, 9, 76-9.

Herity, M., Kelly, D. and Mattenberger, U. 1997 List of Early Christian cross-slabs in seven north-western counties. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 127, 89-124.

Hartnett, P.J. 1954c Miscellanea - Rossinver Church and Graveyard, Co. Leitrim. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 85, 180-81.

O'Hanlon, Rev. J. 1875-1903 Lives of the Irish saints. Dublin, London and New York.

O'Connell, P. 1937 The Diocese of Kilmore: its history and antiquities. Dublin. Browne and Nolan.

Carey, A. 2018 Archaeological Report on Trial Trenching at Gubalaun townland, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim. Licence No. 18E0055. Unpublished report, Author

Carey, A. 2019 Archaeological Report on Trial Trenching at Gubalaun townland, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim. Licence No. 19E0042. Unpublished report, Author

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1929 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Leitrim collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1836. Bray.