Religious house - Augustinian canons

The National Monuments Service's description

The parish church of Kilmore is listed as Kilmore in the ecclesiastical taxation of Elphin in 1306 (Cal. doc. Ire., vol. 5, 224). It is probably the site of the abbey of Kilmore of Tir Briuin na Sinna (RO018-026002*), which was reputedly founded by St Patrick (Stokes 1887b, 95). In 1232 the church of Kilmore in Hy Briuin na Sinna was consecrated by Donnagh O'Conor, Bishop of Elphin, when it was placed under the Augustinian rule. In 1249 Con O'Flanagan, the prior, and Teige O'Monaghan, Lord of Ui Briuin na Sionna were buried there (AFM vol. 3, P 261, 333). The abbey may have been transformed into a parish church in 1412, but it continued at least until the mid-fifteenth century. In 1580 it was leased by a Tyrell O'Farrell (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 183).

Situated on a level landscape. There is no evidence of an early church structure within a rectangular graveyard (RO018-002004-) (dims 64m E-W; 40m N-S) defined by masonry walls, containing a Church of Ireland church, which has a memorial (RO018-002002-) to James King, son of Edward King, Bishop of Elphin dated 1687 (Bayly 1901-03, 427; Craig 1976a, 14; Hanly 1994). A grave-slab (RO018-002001-) (dims 1.05m x 0.3m; T 0.05m) with an inscription, recording Edwina, the daughter of MacBrannan, and the date 1357 (Bayley 1901-03, 425-6; O'Flanagan 1931, vol. 2, 22-3) is inside the entrance to the graveyard. The site of Tobernacleggan well (RO018-003----) is c. 130m to the ESE.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 24 August 2010

References

Hanly, S. 1994 Tir Briuin na Sionna, Journal of the County Roscommon Historical and Archaeological Society vol. 5, 70-1.

Bayley, Rev. T. 1901-03 Tablets in Kilmore church, diocese of Elphin. Journal of the Society for the preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland, vol. 5, No. 3, 425-32.

Craig, M. 1976a Buildings and sites of historic/artistic interest in Co. Roscommon. An Foras Forbartha. Unpublished.

Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N. 1970 (Reprint 1988) Medieval religious houses of Ireland. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.

AFM - Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the earliest period to the year 1616, ed. and trans. John O'Donovan (7 vols., Dublin, 1851; reprint New York, 1966)

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

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1931 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Roscommon collected during the progress of the
Ordnance Survey in 1837. Bray.

Stokes, W. 1887 The tripartite life of Patrick, 2 vols. London. HMSO.