Church

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture on demesne land, in the S half of a graveyard (LF024-003003-). In 1397 Donatus Ofrarguil was appointed to the vicarage of ‘Rathriebach’ (Cal. papal letters 1904, vol. 5, 105). In 1594 it was granted to John Lye of Rathbride, county Kildare (Nicholls 1994, vol. 3, 240) and in 1607 it was granted to Patrick Fox of Dublin (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 115). The church is depicted on an early 17th-century map of Ardagh barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.ii.25) and on the Down Survey map (1655-6) of Reathreagh parish (NLI, MS 713). This late-medieval church (ext. dims. 14.9m E-W; 7.4m N-S; wall T 0.9m) is constructed of roughly coursed limestone. It was extended to the W and extensively refurbished in the late 18th century. A plaque, dated 1772, over the elaborate Classical doorway and surround in the W gable commemorates this work. The outline of the original W gable is still identifiable. There is a three-light window in the E gable; its internal stonework possibly dates to the 17th century but the external stonework is of 18th-century date. There are two narrower twin-light windows in the S wall. The effigial tomb (LF024-003002-) of Nathaniel Fox, dated 1634, lies within the interior, against the N wall. (ITA Survey 1944; (Craig and O'Connell 1980, 136-41; Casey and Rowan 1993, 352-3, Pl. 58)

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 4 June 2013

References

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)

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

NLI, MS 719 - National Library of Ireland, The parish maps of the Down Survey of Co. Longford attested by W. Petty under date 1657. Copied by Daniel O'Brien. A set of 22 maps with accompanying terriers, 1786-7. Dublin.

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)

Irish Tourist Association. Surveys undertaken in the 1940s for the Irish Tourist Association (now Fáilte Ireland) relating to ‘Natural features, antiquities, historic associations etc.' Extracts from these surveys were copied into the Topographical files of the Office of Public Works and these have been incorporated into the Sites and Monuments Record files (National Monuments Service).

Craig, M. and O'Connell, J. 1980 Rath Reagh church. In H. Murtagh (ed.), Irish Midland studies: essays in commemoration of N.W. English, 136-41. Old Athlone Society.

Casey, C. and Rowan, A. 1993 The buildings of Ireland: North Leinster: the counties of Longford, Louth, Meath and Westmeath. London. Penguin Books.

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.