Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a fairly level landscape. A subrectangular enclosure (dims c. 70m NW-SE; c. 50m NE-SW) is indicated on 1836 ed. of the OS 6-inch map, but not described. It is not recorded by Ussher (1622) but Dopping's Visitation Book (1682-5) refers to a chapel at Durhamstown, then reduced to the foundations (Ellison 1972, 10, 13) and Cogan (1862-70, 2, 258-9) knew it as Markeystown where interments had occurred within living memory. The stones were used to build the Church of Ireland church of Ardbraccan, which was built in 1777 (Lewis 1837, 1, 42). Air Corps aerial photographs from the late 1940s (V 306/1359) show a rectangular structure within this feature. The site has since been removed and appears as a slightly raised rectangular stony area (dims c. 40m N-S; c. 50m E-W).

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: 20 June, 2014

References

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

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.

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