Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a rise in a gently undulating landscape. A church at Moimany is listed in the ecclesiastical taxation (1302-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Cal. doc. Ire. 5, 259). Ussher (1622) describes the church and chancel of Killiagh as repaired (Erlington 1847-64, 1, cxxi). The church of Killeagh is marked on the Down Survey map of County Meath where it is placed centrally in the parish in a townland called Killeagh, which consists of the modern townland of Moat. According to the Dopping and Regal Visitations (1682-93) the church and chancel of Moymane alias Killeagh were down and it was not enclosed (Ellison 1975, 9-10). The Church of Ireland church was built in 1800 (Lewis 1837, 2, 118) and removed before 1964. Only the base of the S wall (L 14.3m; max. H 0.5m) of this structures remains. It is thought to have been made from stones of the older church (O'Connell 1964, 92-3), of which there is no visible trace in a raised D-shaped graveyard (dims c. 60m N-S; c. 60m E-W) defined by masonry walls with straight sides at N, E and W. There are mature deciduous trees inside the perimeter, and the graveyard has a large collection of headstones dating from c. 1730-1750. It continued in use until c. 1910, but there are no dressed stones from the medieval structure in the graveyard. A small rectangular annexe (dims c. 35m E-W; c. 10m N-S) defined by masonry walls and attached to the N continues to be used for burial up to the present. The large enclosure site (ME008-034----) is immediately to the N and together with the graveyard could constitute an ecclesiastical enclosure around an early church, but there is no other evidence of an early date. The motte and bailey (ME008-032----) is c. 450m to the SW.

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: 31October, 2018

References

Cal. doc. Ire. - Calendar of documents relating to Ireland 1171-1307, ed. H.S. Sweetman (5 vols., London, 1875-86).

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

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.

O'Connell, P. 1964 The parish and district of Kilbride, Part 3. Ríocht na Midhe Vol. 3, 2, 89-95.

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