Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in an undulating landscape on the floor of Glenfarne valley, with a curving NE-SW section of the Cornavannoge River c. 50-70m to the SE. This is the site of the church listed as Kill McCoyril in the Register of Clonmacnoise (O'Donovan 1857, 451; Pinkman 1942, 35), and a church of Cill Mic Coirill, or Kill Mic Oilill, is listed as a church in north Leitrim in a late 17th century document (Mooney 1946a, 65). This was probably a chapel-of ease to the parish church (LE011-019001-) of Cloonclare, but it may be on an older site. Traditionally, the name is thought to be derived from “Cill Mac Faurcheallaig (Farrell’s church)”, after a woman pilgrim who was assaulted nearby (Faughnan 1943).
There is no evidence that there was ever a church within the subrectangular graveyard (dims c. 50m N-S; c. 40m E-W) depicted on the 1835 and 1910 eds of the OS 6-inch map where it is described as a Burial Ground on both. The graveyard has been extended to the S (dims c. 90m NNE-SSW; 37m WNW-ESE) defined by modern masonry walls, but the older N part is overlying a grass-covered oval enclosure (dims c. 100m WNW-ESE; c. 60m NNE-SSW) defined by a widely spread earthen bank or scarp, which could be an ecclesiastical enclosure.

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.

Date of revised upload: 4 April 2016

References

Faughnan, D. 1943 ITA topographical and general survey. Ballinamore Library, Co Leitrim, (file no. 140). Unpublished.

Pinkman, Rev. J. 1942 Some place names in Co. Leitrim. Journal of the Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Archaeological Society 11 (8), 34-46.

O'Donovan, J. 1856-7 The Registry of Clonmacnoise: with notes and introductory remarks. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 4, 444-60.

Mooney, C. 1946a Topographical fragments from the Franciscan Library. Celtica 1, 64-85.