Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a gentle SE-facing slope. The name ‘Templescoby’ occurs on the Down Survey (1656) county, barony and parish maps as a townland name in Rosdrehide parish. The east edge of Rosdroit parish was transformed into a separate parish called Templescoby by the Church of Ireland in 1806, and its church – St Paul’s - was completed in 1817 c. 1.5km to the E (Lewis 1837, vol. 2, 614). The name is derived from the Gaelic Teampall Scuaibe – the church of Scuaibe, but a saint of this name is not known (Ó Riain 2011). The church at Moneyhore (WX025-43001-) is c. 1.1km to the W.
An early church seems to have been established here, and there are local traditions of a monastery, a burial ground (IFC: Schools Collection vol. 0901, 201, 236, 294), and an old town (SMR file). The only evidence of the church is the cropmark of a large enclosure (ext. diam. c. 350m E-W; c. 310m N-S) defined by two fosse features placed c. 8m apart that can be traced only on Google Earth (14/07/2018) curving S-NNW, and its course might be traced in other features E-S. Situated c. 20-25m inside this double fosse is a single fosse traceable S-NW. Indications of what might be two banks roughly following these lines can be seen on OSI images (2005). It was also noted by Simon Dowling.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 19 September 2019
Amended: 6 March 2020

References

Ó Riain, P. 2011 A dictionary of Irish Saints. Dublin. Four Courts Press.

SMR file - Sites and monuments record files in the National Monuments Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

IFC Schools' MSS: Irish Folklore Commission Schools' Manuscripts. Department of Folklore. University College, Dublin.

Lewis, S. 1837 A topographical dictionary of Ireland, 2 vols. London. Lewis and Co.