Church in Lyons

The monument is 'the ruins of the old parish church … dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary (JKAS 1914, 279-80). Stands in the NW corner of a graveyard (KD015-004002-). A fairly poorly preserved and altered rectangular structure, standing to original height, comprises a nave (dims. L 14.25m; Wth 8.5m) and chancel (dims. L 7.2m; Wth 6.7m). It is built of angular, undressed, rubble limestone masonry (wall T 0.95m), with well dressed granite quoins on the E gable wall of the chancel which is reused as a private, and inaccessible, burial vault. The nave is entered through an iron gate in a rebuilt pointed-arched doorway (Wth 1.1m; H 2.4m) in the S wall. Its limestone arch-stones are decorated with four angels carved in high relief and the granite base of a font (KD015-004004-) is reused as the lowest jamb stone on the W side of the doorway, the jamb stones of which are granite. A second, opposing, pointed-arched doorway (Wt 0.95m; H 1.4m) in the N wall has limestone arch stones and granite jamb stones. It has been blocked-up to house a 16th century Aylmer armorial plaque (KD015-004003-). The nave was lit by a fine, ogee-headed, granite window with fluted jambs, barring holes and glazing grooves, set in a large, round-arched, granite embrasure, now blocked with red brick, towards the W end of the S wall. A second, opposing, but plainer, ogee-headed window in the N wall is plastered-over internally, and a large window ope in the W gable wall is infilled with red brick. The nave contains modern burial plots and commemorative plaques (19th and 20th C) are affixed to the inner face of the plastered N wall, and a late-17th century slate plaque (KD015-004005-) is built into a small recess in the outer face of the S wall. A plain, well-built, chancel arch of granite (Wth 2.3m; H 3.4m) is blocked-off with iron railings backed with galvanised sheeting. A well-dressed corbel with a rebated upper surface projects from the wall face immediately S of the chancel opening, in line with the springing of the arch, and there are traces of a matching, but broken, corbel on the N side of the arch. The chancel has been substantially rebuilt; its N wall stands just inside the foundation line of an earlier wall, and its shallow-pitched, slate roof is lower than an older roofline which is visible as a scar line on the E gable wall. The chancel was lit by two ogee-headed windows, now blocked, in the S wall, and by a tall, narrow pointed-arched window, with bar-slot holes and glazing groove, in the E gable wall, the lower half of which has been infilled and fitted with a second sill-stone. (Killanin and Duignan 1967, 160) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011