Church

The National Monuments Service's description

On a rise in low-lying pasture, within a graveyard (LF019-030001-). In 1412 John Ofergaill was appointed to the perpetual vicarage of 'Maghduma' (Cal. papal letters 1904, vol. 6, 243). In 1542 the rectory was leased to Walter Tirrell of Dublin (Nicholls 1994, vol. 1, 37). The church is depicted on an early 17th-century map of Moydow barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.ii.28) and was described in the late 17th century as 'a church said to be formerlie a house of the Colides' (Downing 1932, 22). No visible surface trace survives. However, a fragment of a late-medieval window sill, possibly from it, that has been reused as a grave-marker suggests that it may have been located within the graveyard. A fragment of a cross (LF019-030002-) and two late-17th-century graveslabs (LF019-030003-, LF019-030004-), in the S half of the graveyard, further suggest this is the site of the earlier church. The church (C of I) in the N sector dates to the 19th century. (McNamee 1940b, 39-40)

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 5 June 2013

References

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)

Cal. papal letters - Calendar of entries in the papal registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland: papal letters, 1198-1484 [etc.] (London, 1893-)

Downing, R. 1932 Phillipps MS 6681. County of Longford. Journal of the Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Archaeological Society 1, 20-46.

Nicholls, K.W. (ed.) 1994 The Irish fiants of the Tudor sovereigns during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Philip & Mary, and Elizabeth I, 4 vols. Dublin. Éamonn de Búrca for Edmund Burke Publisher.

McNamee, J.J. 1940 Archdall on monastic foundations in the diocese of Ardagh. Journal of the Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Archaeological Society 2, 33-44.