Church

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 enclosure surrounding a graveyard (WM022-014----) located inside the bailey of a motte castle (WM022-015----) standing immediately to S. An early Christian cross-slab (WM022-014003-) has been recently discovered inside the private graveyard of the Smyth family along with cut stone fragments of a late medieval building possibly a church (Reilly 2016, 113,-6). In 1976 Mr Billy English discovered an early Christian cross-slab (WM022-003----) in the wall of an orchard located approx. 220m to NNW. This cross-slab which is now missing may have originally come from the graveyard (WM022-014----). Mr. Billy English recorded a local tradition that there was an early Christian church in the townland of Portlick (Fanning and Ó hÉailidhe 1980, 19). According to Reilly (2016, 114) the tradition of an ancient church at Portlick is also recorded in the history of the Smyths of Portlick Castle, which noted that most of family, `are buried in a private cemetery formed around the ruins of an ancient chapel in front of Portlick Castle (WM022-012----)' (Hayward 1950, 165).' This description identifies the Smyth family graveyard (WM022-014----) as the actual site of the ancient church as remembered in local tradition.
Graveyard wall containign architectural fragments of a late medieval building described by Reilly (2016, 116) as following 'Although most of the rectangular graveyard wall is constructed of coarse local limestone, there are traces of masonry from an older structure incorporated into it. Field inspection has recorded over twenty squared or finely dressed stones mixed in among the stones of the wall. Roughly half of these are identifiable as architectural fragments. Lying flat on the top of the wall in the north-east comer, the lower part of a small splayed window aperture of early date can be seen, and nearby are three small pieces of window surround of the same dimensions that must have formed part of the window opening. On the north-west wall the ruins of the entrance gate to the nineteenth-century cemetery can be seen between two pillars. The pillars are made from a number of squared and dressed stones but the eastern pillar also includes two large blocks with a well cut pattern of arcades and rows repeated on both of them. On the south-west corner, there is a long squared fragment with a chamfered edge and raised triangular stop identical to those found in late Medieval door jambs. Built into the west-facing wall, there is a small fragment of an arch, and another pointed lancet arch fragment built into the inner face of the same wall. Most of the southern part of the wall is inaccessible due to a fallen beech tree'.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 29 July 2017

References

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.

Hayward, R. 1950 Where the River Shannon flows. Dundalk.

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

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.

Fanning, T. and Ó hÉailidhe, P. 1980 Some cross-inscribed slabs from the Irish Midlands. In H. Murtagh (ed.), Irish Midland studies: essays in commemoration of N.W. English, 5-23. Athlone. Old Athlone Society.