Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Immediately to the S of the road, overlooking the deserted settlement (LF010-078001-) to the NE. The church of 'Granardkilly' is depicted on an early 17th-century map of Granard barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.i.47). A lease dated 1611 lists 'one ruinous church’ and ‘the hospital of St Patrick, called Granard-Kille in O'Ferrall's country’ (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 213). This church may be the medieval parish church of Granard (Bradley et al. 1985, 19-20) (but see also LF010-055002-). Its precise location and that of the hospital (LF010-078003-) have not been identified. However, the church may have been located close to or within the graveyard (LF010-078004-) where a fragment of a round-headed window that may be from it, and which is possibly of late-12th/early 13th-century date, is incorporated into the graveyard wall, adjacent to the entrance. Other window fragments incorporated in the wall may be from the ‘R. C. Chapel’ shown on the 1837 edition of the OS 6-inch map. This church has been levelled and a small oratory, containing the font from it, now stands on its site. (Masterson 1935, 91)

Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan, Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 5 June 2013

References

Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H. 1985 Urban archaeological survey - county Longford. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I - Irish patent rolls of James I: facsimile of the Irish record commissioners' calendar prepared prior to 1830, with foreword by M.C. Griffith (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1966)

British Library, Cotton Manuscripts, Augustus I. Charts of the baronies of Granard, Rathcline, Longford, Ardagh, Shrule and Moydow, County Longford. London. (microfilm, NLI p. 1364)

Masterson, M. J. 1935 Note. Journal of the Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Antiquarian Society 4, 91.