Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Located at the crest of the W-facing slope of a drumlin. A church at Ardagh is listed as a chapel-of-ease to Nobber in the visitations of Ussher (1622) (Erlington 1847-64, 1, xcvii) and Dopping (1682-5) (Ellison 1973, 4). By the 19th century it had become a parish, probably when a church was built in 1805 (Lewis 1837, 1, 41). Cogan (1862-70, 2, 294-5) says it was dedicated to St Patrick. This church is now visible as a sunken area (dims 11.2m NW-SE; 8.5m NE-SW), but another structure described as 'in ruins' on the 1836 ed. of the OS 6" map is at the N angle of the subrectangular graveyard (dims c. 48m NW-SE; c. 25-35m NE-SW) defined by stone-faced earthen banks with trees. This building orientated NW SE (int. L 7.7m. int. Wth 3.7m) is unlikely ever to have been a church and has no diagnostic features. A small bullaun stone that was in the graveyard in 1984 is missing as is a possible font that has a faceted stem (diam. 0.3m; H 0.25m) expanding into a damaged basin (D 0.12m) but there was no drain-hole. The crude base of a cross or a boulder (dims 0.6m x 0.45m; H c. 0.4m) supporting a stoup (dims c. 0.28m x 0.28m; H 0.28m) that was in the laneway to the S is also missing.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revision: 10 December, 2014

References

Ellison, Rev. C. C. 1971-5 Bishop Dopping's Visitation Book 1682-5, Ríocht na Mídhe, 5, 1, 28-39; 5, 2, 3-13; 5, 3, 3-11; 5, 4, 98-103; 6, 1, 3-13.

Cogan, Rev. A. 1862-70 Ecclesiastical history of the diocese of Meath: ancient and modern. (3 vols) Dublin: John Fowler, Joseph Dollard

Lewis, S. 1837 A topographical dictionary of Ireland, 2 vols. London. Lewis and Co.

Erlington, C. R. (ed.) 1847-64 The whole works of the most Reverend James Ussher. 17 vols. Hodges and Smith, Dublin