Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on the NW slope of a low hillock in an upland area. Kilnarath Church listed in the ecclesiastical taxation of the Diocese of Cashel in 1302 (Cal. doc. Ire, 5, 281). The Civil Survey of 1654-56 recorded that that upon the said lands 'stands the parish Church of Killnyragh' (Simington 1934, 192). In 1652 Cornelius Ryan was listed as the parish priest of Kilnarath Church (Millett 1988, 24). In 1840 the Ordnance Survey recorded that the site of the medieval parish church was 'no longer in existence and its site is occupied by a small Protestant Church now in ruins' (O'Flanagan 1930, 6).
A rectangular apse-ended post-1700 C of I church (ext. dims. 8.5m N-S; 21.6m E-W; wall T 0.75m) which contains two large barrel-vaulted mortuary vaults of nineteenth-century date probably stands on the site of the medieval parish church. No other features are visible due to a dense cover of ivy on the walls of the church which is located in a large rectangular-shaped graveyard (TN031-063002-) containing eighteenth- and nineteenth-century headstones. In the graveyard there is an upright holed stone (TN031-063003-) possibly re-used as a grave-marker which could be a medieval threshold stone or socket stone for a timber pivot of the doorway belonging to the medieval church (pers. comm. Derek Ryan).

The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload/revision: 19 October 2017

References

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1934 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. II: county of Tipperary - Western and Northern baronies. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840. Bray.

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

Millett, B. 1988 Fabian Ryan, O.P., Postulated as Bishop by Clergy and Laity of Cashel and of Emly 1652. Collectanea Hibernica, No. 29, 14-33.