Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a low rise of ground 60m NE of Rinardoo Bay on the E shoreline of Lough Ree with a stream marking the townland boundary with Killinure immediately to S. Depicted on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map as a roughly D-shaped 'Grave Yard' (approx. dims. 58m N-S x 66m E-W) standing in the S quadrant of a field called the 'Church Park' with motte castle (WM022-015----) immediately to S. On the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map a tomb is shown located in the S quadrant of the graveyard. This graveyard appears to have been built in the bailey of the motte castle (WM022--015---) which in turn may have been built on the site of an early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure (WM022-014002-). A church building (WM022-014003-) now levelled may have stood inside the graveyard. On the revised 1914 ed. OS 6-inch map a smaller rectangular shaped burial ground belonging to the Smyth family of Portlick Castle (WM022-045----) is depicted standing in the centre of the D-shaped graveyard. This drystone walled burial ground belonging to the Smyth family incorporates architectural fragments of a late medieval building possibly from a church which stood inside the earlier graveyard. An early Christian cross-slab (WM022-014004-) now housed in the National Museum of Ireland was recently discovered in the fabric of this burial ground wall (Reilly 2016, 113). A possible bullaun stone (WM022-016---) and cross (WM022-017----) are located 120m and 165m respectively to the S. The confiscated Dillon estate of Portlick Castle amounting to 356 acres was granted to Thomas Keightly, a member of the Privy Council of Ireland who sold the lands of Portlick, Whinnings, Cartron and ⅓ of the Great Island to William Palmer of Dublin. In 1703 Reverend Robert Smyth of Dublin purchased the lands of Portlick Castle amounting to 190 acres (Sheehan 1978, 68).
Listed by Swan (1988, 31) as possible site of an Early Christian ecclesiastical site with possible ecclesiastical enclosure, bullaun stone (WM022-016----) 100m to the S and the presence of an early Christian cross-slab (WM022-003----) now lost which was discovered in 1976. A graveyard (WM022-014----) is located inside the bailey of a motte castle (WM022-015----) located immediately to S. The curving ditch of the bailey to the N and E may indicate re-use of an Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure. An early Christian cross-slab (WM022-014003-) has been recently discovered inside the graveyard along with cut stone fragments of a late medieval building possibly a church (Reilly 2016, 113,-6). The possible ecclesiastical enclosure was described by Reilly (2016, 114) as following; 'The nineteenth-century burial ground contains seven burial plots in a north-south alignment and is surrounded by a rectangular drystone wall, which is in turn surrounded by a larger enclosure. Although depicted as a wall on the later OS maps, the larger enclosure is in fact a bank of earth and stone that is roughly oval in shape. It encloses an area measuring c. 70m east-west by c. 60m north-south'. Reilly also uncovered fragments of two rotary quern stones. The fragments, consisting of a portion of an upper and a lower quernstone, both of red sandstone conglomerate, were found lying near the enclosing earthen bank SW of the graveyard wall about 3m apart.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of Upload: 29 July 2017

References

Swan, D. L. 1988 Early Christian ecclesiastical sites. In J. Bradley (ed.), Settlement and society in medieval Ireland: studies presented to F.X. Martin OSA, 1-31. Kilkenny. Boethius Press.

Sheehan, J. 1978 South Westmeath: farm and folk. Blackwater.

Reilly, D. 2016 Miscellany: A newly discovered early Christian cross-slab from Portlick, Co. Westmeath. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 144, 113-21.