Church in Clonee (dunboyne By.)

Situated on a level landscape within Clonee village, with a W-E section of the NW-SE Tolka River c. 70m to the N. A chapel at Clonee in the large parish of Dunboyne does not occur in the ecclesiastical lists, but it is amongst nine chapels in the parish recorded by Cogan (1862-70, 1, 190). He says that this church had been removed together with its graveyard, which was partly occupied by a police station. The church may have been dedicated to a St Mell, perhaps St Meal of Ardagh, Co. Longford, as in describing the bounds of Clonee in the Civil Survey (1654-6) (Simington 1940, 122) it states ‘…with the river Tollochyne (Tolka) betwixt it and part of the lands of Portan with a bridge passing over it to St Melles his Chapell on the west..’. The police station is marked on the 1836 ed. of the OS 6-inch map, although the precise location of the chapel is uncertain. Inhumations dating to the 18th or 19th century were recovered in the vicinity in 1965 (NMI file). Archaeological testing (01E0808) by G. Scally just W of the possible site of the church and graveyard produced no related material (excvations.ie 2001:950), and testing (04E0409) by M. E. Byrne just to the E and S had a similar result (excavations.ie 2004:1208). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 10 April, 2015

A local church or high cross; wider significance not recorded.