Church (in Rns)

Situated on a slight rise with the headwaters of a small SE-NW stream c. 100m to the SW. St Colmán, known only from the martyrologies where his feastday is recorded as 30 September or 13 June, may be a local manifestation of St Colum Cille, but he is the patron of this church (Ó Rian 2011, 184). Clontibret, together with other parishes in Cremone barony is incorporated under Crichmugdorn in the ecclesiastical taxation (1304-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Shirley 1879, 289). This is the site of the medieval parish church of Clontibret, and the names of some of the clergy are known from 1424 (Leslie 1929, 149-50). The church is described as ruinous in Bishop Spotiswood’s visitation in 1622 (McKenna 1920, 1, 511) and again in the Royal Visitation of 1667 (Shirley 1879, 340). The church was described as ‘a plain old structure with an ancient square tower surmounted by a spire’ by Lewis (1837, 1, 377). The present Church of Ireland church of St Columba was built in 1839 (Shirley 1879, 339-42), and is just N of the tower and part of the W wall of the old church that survive. Both churches are within a rectangular graveyard (dims c. 60-80m N-S; c. 40m E-W) defined by masonry walls, and some of the early headstones dating from the 18th century, the earliest being 1717, have been recorded (Ó Mearáin and Ó Gallachair 1974) The tower (ext. dims 3.5m N-S; 2.75m E-W) has a round-headed doorway (Wth 1.05m) on the S side but the doorway on the E side to the body of the missing church is broken through an older wall and repaired with brick. No internal stairs or floors survive in the tower, but at the first storey there is a round-headed window in the W wall and a doorway in the N wall allowed access to the bell-ringing stage. A doorway in the E wall of the tower is inserted through the W wall of the church. At this level the tower is partially blocking two lights in this wall, indicating that the tower is secondary. The pitch of the church roof can be seen the E wall of the tower and it had a large window near the apex. Above this level the belfry stage of the tower has large rectangular openings on each wall. According to some sources, the earliest church stood W of road which bounds present graveyard (MO014-019002-) at W (IFC Schools' MSS 936, 203). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. See the attached image of the tower from NE Revised by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 25 November 2016

The church at Gallagh was likely built by a local Christian community, possibly dedicated to St Colmán, a figure known only from medieval martyrologies; its construction probably dates to the early medieval period, with significance tied to early Irish monastic tradition and local saint veneration.