Church (in Ruins)

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007 Built of roughly coursed limestone slabs, blocks and some very large boulders close to the wall base. Present remains are of a rectangular building (int. dims. c. 9.75m by c. 5.6m, Wth of walls c. 0.8m), probably the nave of a church which once extended E to smaller chancel, now hardly discernible. Doorway, in W bell-gable with single opening now filled in, has two large slab lintels and is a late insertion. Window over doorway in W gable has a round arch with keystone and is constructed with a mixture of punch-dressed limestone and sandstone. S wall has four large window opes which are late insertions. The second window in S wall from W end has been partially built over a blocked-up doorway which is, probably, the original S entrance to this late medieval church. Semi-circular arch in E gable has wall foundations clearly visible across its opening, indicating that it might be a late feature. Church was in ruins in 1692 (CLAJ 1944, 280), and the most recent alterations (i.e. windows in S wall) probably occurred close to that time. (Leslie 1908, 92)