Church in Killaconnigan

Located on a slight rise in a level landscape. A church at Killocanegan is listed in the ecclesiastical taxation (1302-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Cal. doc. Ire., 5, 256). Ussher (1622) describes the church as in reasonable repair, but the chancel was a ruin (Erlington 1847-64, 1, lxxxiv). According to Dopping (1682-5) the church and chancel of Killshangan alias Killeconegan were ruined and it was not enclosed (Ellison 1972, 12). Cogan (1862-70, 2, 345) records that the church was dedicated to St. Kineth or Cionaodh, whose pattern was celebrated on 16th November. The co-incidence of the name and date is not known in the martyrologies, but the name is likely to be derived from Colum Cille, one of the most popular Irish saints (Ó Riain 2011, 176). The church is marked on a map (MS 5485 (47)) made in 1767, which is in the NLI. Some small cairns are the last remnants of the parish church, but no foundations are visible. There is one loose piece of window surround (H 0.2m) with a glazing-groove and bar-holes. A small limestone cross (H 0.48m; span 0.31m) with octagonal cross-sections (dims 0.14m x 0.14m) to the stem and arms (L 8cm) is probably a finial cross and is set in the ground at the centre of the graveyard near the cairns. The graveyard is a D-shaped area (max. dims c. 60m NW-SE; c. 50m NE-SW) defined by a straight earthen bank at NW, a low earthen bank at NE and a path E-S at the base of the slope. Headstones date from c. 1770 to the present. 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: 11 February 2015