Ardcarn Church

Detached Church of Ireland church, built c.1750, enlarged c.1800, repaired c.1859 following fire in 1858. Comprises three-bay nave, transept to north, single-bay gable-fronted bay to south with open-bed pediment and elaborate chimneystack. Four-stage castellated tower to west with canted bays to sides. Pitched slate roof with stone coping, ridge tiles and cast-iron rainwater goods. Random coursed walls to tower and roughcast-rendered walls to church. Tooled quoins to canted bays. Diamond-paned and switch tracery to windows, some with stained glass. Chamfered stone surrounds. Block-and-start surrounds to east window and canted bay windows. Double timber battened doors with fanlight and cut stone surround with hood moulding. Graveyard to east and south with later graveyard extended to south, containing various tombs and upright and recumbent grave markers. The earliest tomb dates to 1688, with a Famine memorial, erected in 1997, by Jackie McKenna, to west of church. Graveyard bounded by random coursed walls with wrought-iron gates. Further building to north of church.

There has been a church on this site since 500 AD, with the present one largely dating from the mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century. The graveyard contains an interesting mix of grave markers and tombs of varied dates, some displaying fine carved decorative detail. The church is enhanced by its various traceried windows, some with stained glass, while the contrast between the stone tower and rendered church adds further texture.