Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a slight rise. The parish church of Magheracloone, dedicated to St Molua, is listed as de Cluayn in the ecclesiastical taxation (1302-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Shirley 1879, 289). St Molua of Kyle, Co. Laois (LA015-023001-) is a sixth century saint descended from the Coirce Oiche of Ulster. A twelfth century life connects him in passing with Drumsnat (MO0013-002003-) but his feastday was celebrated on 4 August at Magheracloone (Ó Riain 2011, 492). The names of some of the clergy are known from 1443, and at the Suppression of the monasteries in1540 the tithes were impropriate to the Crutched Friars of St John the Baptist’s of Ardee (LH017-101022-) but by 1622 they were held the Moore family of Mellifont (Shirley 1879, 372). In that year the church was described as repaired outside (Leslie 1929, 221-2). The church was rebuilt in 1824 on the site of the old one, which was described as being ‘very ancient, small and sunk nearly three feet below the level of the ground’ (Shirley 1879, 372). Lewis (1837, 2, 331) places the rebuilding date in 1835. The graveslab of John Dobbs dated 1679 (Maffett 1891) is preserved under a fitted carpet in its aisle. The church is in the SE quadrant of a subrectangular or D-shaped graveyard (dims c. 75m NW-SE; c. 60m NE-SW) defined by masonry walls with the straightest wall at NW.
There is a headstone shaped like a latin cross (H 0.7m; span 0.74m) with a rectangular cross-section (dims 0.4m x 0.22m) commemorating Owen MacMahon and his wife Rose Kelly with the date 1687 close to the church door, and a second headstone shaped like a latin cross (H 0.83m; span 0.47m) with a narrower stem (dims 0.28m x 0.14m) commemorating Thomas MacNamorue with the date 1685 is in the graveyard. A third headstone of the same form (H 0.85m; span 0.45m) commemorating Patrick Mahen has been recorded with the date 1688 (Shirley 1879, 374), but the date is now illegible.
Archaeological testing (05E1374) outside the graveyard N-SE identified an area with redeposited soils close to the stream c. 70m NE the present church. A ditch or fosse (Wth of top 1.6m; max. D 0.8m) with silty clay at the base beneath a silty sand with charcoal inclusions was encountered c. 15m SE of the graveyard wall running parallel with its boundary. It may be the same feature identified (Wth of top 1.9m; D 0.6m) NE of the graveyard, and they could form an ecclesiastical enclosure. No artefacts were recovered but iron slag was encountered over much of the area. (Mc Loughlin 2006, 5-7)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revision: 21 November 2017
Amended: 14 January 2020

References

Shirley, E.P. 1879 (Reprint 1988) The history of the county of Monaghan. London. Pickering.

Leslie, J.B. 1929 Clogher clergy and parishes. Enniskillen.

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

Ó Riain, P. 2011 A dictionary of Irish Saints. Dublin. Four Courts Press.

Maffett, Rev. R. S. (1891) Parish of Magheracloone. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead, Ireland, 1, 473-4.

Mc Loughlin, G. 2006 Archaeological assessment at Magheracloone County Monaghan. Lincence No. 05E1374. Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy.