Church

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument in state ownership No. 267. Situated on a gentle E-facing slope in Kilcoole village. A nave (int. dims. 8.75m x 5.2m) and chancel (int. dims. 5.6m x 2.93m) church, with an extension to the nave at the W (int. dims. 8.6m x 5.3m), all built of uncoursed rubble. There is a low segmental chancel arch with a tapering opening immediately above. The base of the corbelling for the nave and chancel roofs survives, as does the upper line of the nave roof which projects from the gable above the chancel arch. Simple round-headed windows occur in the E gable and the S wall of the nave with simple tapering windows at a high level in the E and W gables. The S window has bevelled sandstone jambs and arch stones. A modern wall projects 1m from the N and S walls with a gate dividing the nave. The W door is slightly off-centre and has a low segmental arch. The extension at the W is a later addition and has a door, marked only at foundation level, at the W end of the S wall. Both the W and N walls are substantially intact. A granite cross-slab as been placed against the chancel arch at the E end of the nave and a square granite font with rounded corners stands immediately inside the door of the nave. The graveyard is a quadrangular enclosure (dims. 35m E-W; 28m N-S) defined by a 19th-century wall. It contains a large number of early 18th-century headstones. (O'Flanagan 1928, 62-4)

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

Date of upload/revision: 17 December 2008

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1928 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Wicklow collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1838. Bray.