Hermitage

The National Monuments Service's description

A monastery at Lemanaghan (Liath Manchán) was founded in the 7th century by Manchán whose feastday is celebrated on the 24th of January (Ó Riain 2011, 429). Situated on a slight rise of ground with stone lined causeway (OF015-004011-), church (OF015-004003-) and tower house (OF015-004001-) to the W.
A 10th / 11th century oratory named after St. Manchan’s mother stands inside a rectangular shaped monastic cashel (dims. 41.7m by 30.7m ) with walls measuring 1.6m thick. Small rectangular shaped oratory (dims. 4.8m N-S; 7.3m E-W; wall T 0.8m) built from large uncoursed limestone boulders with lintelled trabeate door (H 1.75m; Wth 0.75m) at centre of W gable illustrated by Graves (1874, 140). According to Graves (1874, 141) there were no windows on the side walls. The oratory is situated in the centre of a large rectangular-shaped enclosure/cashel (43m E-W; 35.5m N-S) defined by large upright boulders (1.6m x 1m x 0.5m) of varying size and shape which gives the appearance of megalithic construction indicative of Early Christian architecture. The stone lined causeway connects the oratory to the main ecclesiastical remains located to the W.
This structure may have served as a small nunnery church (Ó Carragáin 2010, 223). Local folklore from 1938 recorded that ‘St. Mella's house is about a quarter of a mile from the church on the east side in a place called Kell. It is connected with the church by St. Manchan's Tochar. The four walls are standing but the roof is gone. On one of the steps going into the cell there are marks of a heel. There are also the print of toes on two stones in the cell’ (The Schools’ Collection, Vol. 0810, 134; www.duchas.ie).
(Cooke 1875, 343; Crawford 1911, 151-6; O' Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 82-3; Lionard 1961, 141-5)

The hermitage is part of an archaeological complex consisting of an ecclesiastical enclosure (OF015-004008-),a tower house (OF015-004001-), church (OF015-004003-), several early christian cross-slabs (OF015-004005-) and architectural fragments in the interior of the church. To the NW there is a rectangular building (OF015-004009-) possibly of late medieval date. Holy well (OF015-004007-) togher (OF015-004011) located to the SE of the main church.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled and revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 14 September 2018

References

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

Ó Carragáin, T. 2010 Churches in early medieval Ireland: architecture, ritual and memory. New Haven and London. Yale University Press.

Crawford, H.S. 1911 The early slabs at Lemanaghan, King's County. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 41, 151-6.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1933 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the King's County collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Bray.

Cooke, T.L. 1875 The early history of the town of Birr. Dublin. Robertson.

Graves, Rev. J. 1874 The church and shrine of St. Manchan. The Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland 3, 134-50.

Lionard, P. 1961 Early Irish grave-slabs. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 61C, 95-161.