Church in Mulhussey

Situated on a level landscape, c. 200m W of Mulhussy castle (ME049-012----), which it probably served as a private or estate church. A church at Mulhussey in Kilclone parish does not occur in the ecclesiastical lists, but according to the Civil Survey (1654-6) most of the parish was owned by Edward Hussey in 1641 (Simington 1940, 151-2). The graveyard is marked as a rectangular feature on the 1836 and 1909 eds of the OS 6-inch map. Cogan (1862-70, 2, 361) records the foundations as being ’28 feet 10 inches by 14 feet, 10 inches (c. 8.8m x c. 4.5m)’ and Fitzgerald (1892) records two headstones dating from 1808 and 1736. The base of the conserved, clay-bonded walls (Wth 0.7m; H 0.6m) of a rectangular building (ext. dims 10.1m E-W; 6.05m N-S; int. dims 8.7m E-W; 4.55m N-S) with a modern opening (Wth 1.85m) in the middle of the E wall are within a rectangular graveyard (dims c. 45m NW-SE; c. 35m NE-SW) defined by an earthen bank and hedge at SE, a wide fosse or moat (Wth of top c. 5m; D c. 2m) at SW and NW and the remains of a stone wall at NE. There are three headstones and some grave-markers, one of which is from a window (L 0.67m) with a chamfer and hole for a glazing-bar. The graveyard is within what is probably a moated site as 8m outside the graveyard wall at NE is a silted fosse (Wth of top 3m; Wth of base 1.2m; int. D 0.2m; ext. D 0.4m) and slight outer bank (Wth 3.5m; ext. H 0.2m), which when combined with the graveyard perimeters at SE, SW and NW enclose a rectangular grass-covered area (dims c. 45m NW-SE; c. 40m NE-SW). 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: 9 April, 2015

The church at Mulhussey was likely built as a private or estate church for Mulhussy Castle in the 17th or early 18th century. Its exact style is not recorded, but it is thought to have been a small, modest structure, serving the local area before being omitted from later ecclesiastical records.