Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

According to the Feilire of Aengus and the Martyrology of Tallaght the feastday of Coeman Breic, of Ross ech [St. Caemhan Brec, Bishop of Ross-Each] also known as Chailli in Ollaim/Caille Fhallamhain [wood of the chief Professor / Fallon's wood] on the 14th of September (O'Hanlon 1875, 372-3; O'Donovan 1847, 182-3). Possible ecclesiastical enclosure identified by Swan (1988, 14) who recorded that there was evidence of a possible enclosure in the quadrantal form of the boundary wall of the graveyard (WM006-062001-). In 1837 the Ordnance Survey Name Book for Russagh parish recorded that 'only a small portion of one of the side walls of the old parochial church remains, and the graveyard presents nothing of interest but its situation within an earthen rath’ (SMR File). The D-shaped graveyard boundary on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map indicates that the boundary around the graveyard consisted of an earthen bank which may have incorporated part of an Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure. The earthen boundary was replaced by a stone wall between 1837 and 1911 when the revised ed. OS 6-inch map depicts the graveyard as a sub-rectangular shaped area now enclosed by a stone wall.

Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 25 August 2015

References

O'Donovan, J. (ed. and trans.) 1847 The Book of Rights. Dublin.

Swan, D.L. 1988 The Early Christian ecclesiastical sites of County Westmeath. In J. Bradley (ed.), Settlement and society in Medieval Ireland: studies presented to F.X. Martin O.S.A., 1-31. Kilkenny. Boethius Press.

O'Hanlon, Rev. J. 1875-1903 Lives of the Irish saints. Dublin, London and New York.