Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a rise in a fairly level landscape at the S edge of the W-E valley of the Nanny River, with a WSW-ENE section of the stream c. 250m to the N. Land at Timoole had been granted by Hugh de Lacy to the Augustinian house of Llanthony and its priory in Duleek (ME027-038011-) (Roe 1968, 71), and it might not appear on the earlier lists of churches. Ussher (1622) describes the church and chancel of Tymoole as ruined (Erlington 1847-64, 1, lxvi). According to Dopping (1682-5) the church of St John had been in disrepair since 1641 (Ellison 1971m 34).

The foundations of a small E-W building (dims 7.5m E-W; 6m N-S) survive in a neglected subrectangular graveyard (dims c. 45m ENE-WSW; c. 35-40m NNW-SSE) defined by masonry walls. The foundations may be the chancel of the church, the nave being rebuilt as a mortuary chapel (ext. dims 9.5m E-W; 8m N-S) defined by masonry walls (Wth 0.5m; H 1.2m), with an entrance (Wth 1.5m) in the N wall and a gable (H 4m) in the W wall, although there are indications of the N wall extending further W. The font from here was moved to the Roman Catholic church at Kentstown (ME032-005----), c. 5km to the W, shortly after the Catholic church was built (Cogan 1862-70, 1, 346-7). The limestone octagonal font (ext. dim. 0.64m; H 0.46m) with chamfered under-panels and a circular flat-bottomed basin (int. diam. 0.48m; D 0.24m) is now resting on an octagonal sandstone base (ext. dim. c. 0.5m; H 0.27m). The English inscription in roman letters running on all the sides below the rim reads: THIS / FANT / STONE WAS / BWYLDE / D BY ROBA / RE HOLI /WOD AN / DNI. 1597 / HE BEYN / GE RROCT /OR. (Roe 1968, 69-72)

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.

Date of revision: 23 January 2015

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

Roe, H.M. 1968 Medieval fonts of Meath. Meath Archaeological and Historical Society.

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