Church

The National Monuments Service's description

The parish church of Moorchurch is situated within a rectangular graveyard (dims c. 110m E-W; c. 60-70m N-S) defined by earthen banks and hedges on every side except the E where a masonry wall borders a NNE-SSW public road. It is located on a level landscape. According to the Dopping (1682-5) and Royal (1693) Visitations the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Mora had been unrepaired since 1641 and was not enclosed (Ellison 1971, 34).
This is a divided nave (int. dims 15.2m E-W; c. 8m N-S) and chancel (int. dims 7.7m E-W; 6.05m N-S) church (total L c. 26m), but the W wall and the N wall of the nave do not survive and the other walls are reduced and overgrown. There is a W porch (int. Wth 1.4m; L 3.3m) and an E porch (Wth 1.8m; L 2.12m) on the S wall of the nave with the area between them added to the nave as an aisle. The pointed chancel arch (Wth 5.03m) survives complete and has a plaque (dims 0.69m x 0. 31m) commemorating Dame Janet Sarsfield, dowager of Dunsany, who died in 1597 and is buried in the church inserted into the N pier (Mems Dead 1904, 124). A sacristy (int. dims 3.95m N-S; 3.05m E-W) of two stories was added to the N side of the chancel, which necessitated the closing of the E window on the N chancel wall. The sacristy is entered by a pointed doorway (Wth 0.7m; H 1.35m) from the chancel, but no other features of the chancel survive apart from corbels in the E and W walls for the first floor and a small rectangular window in the N wall at the first floor.

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 upload/revision: 18 August 2014

References

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

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.

Dix, E. R. 1899-1900 Moorechurch Parish. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead, Ireland. 4 460-2.

Du Noyer, G.V. 1896-7 Moorechurch old church, near Julianstown. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead, Ireland. 3, 325.

FitzGerald, Lord W. 1904 Moorechurch churchyard. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead, Ireland. 6, 124. 4. 461.

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