Church in ruins, Grave Yard

On a very gentle E-facing slope in gently undulating rough pasture. The church is located midway along the W side of a sub-rectangular graveyard (TS062-057001-) which is enclosed by a limestone wall capped roughly with cement. A ditch is cut along the internal N side of the boundary wall with upcast thrown inward forming a low bank. According to the Royal Visitation Book [Date 1615?] the church was in ruins 'Ecclesia de Cowlagh - Rectoria impropriata, vicaria unita es Decanatui. Ecclesia et Cancella ruinosa nullus Curatus' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 164). The Civil Survey (1654-6) mentions that there were 'on the lands of Cooleagh two little gardens of Gleabland, ditched about neare the Church' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 175). The church, aligned E-W, is composed of roughly cut blocks of limestone, roughly coursed. Only a length of the S wall (L 12.15m; T 1.14m; H 3.4m) and portion of the W gable (L 5.12m; T 0.75m; H c. 5m) survive, with cut and dressed limestone quoins in SW angle. Of the doorway (Wth 1.34m) towards E end of S wall, only the flat segmental-arched inner embrasure survives. However, two jambs with double-chamfers were visible in the graveyard, one at the doorway and another SE of the church. The ext. face of the W gable is heavily ivy clad, with trees growing immediately outside among collapsed rubble. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011