Church (in Ruins)

Identified as Port Airchinneach (Connellan 1954), it is listed as part of the boundary of Hy Many (O'Donovan 1843, 5) and was plundered by Mac William Burke in 1260 (ALC 1, 435). Situated on a hill overlooking Portrunny Bay (dims c. 1km NW-SE; c. 400-600m N-W), an inlet of Lough Ree, c. 170m to the E. The church is a rectangular structure (int. dims 13.2m E-W; 6.25m N-S), of which only the N wall with an aumbry towards its E end, and the S wall survive. The S wall has two lancet windows in round-headed embrasures towards the E end, only one of which is complete, and a destroyed and blocked doorway towards its W end. The W end of the N wall is truncated by the remaining fragment of the N wall of a house (RO042-044003-) (int. dim. at least 7.55m E-W) which had been vaulted over the ground floor. The church is within a small graveyard (RO042-044002-) (dims 33m E-W; 24m N-S) defined by masonry walls, but archaeological testing (97E0187) 50-150m to the W (Murphy 1998) revealed no archaeological features. Further archaeological testing 09E0499) further E had a similar result (Byrne 2012b). St Diarmaid's Well (RO041-168001-) is c. 110m to the E. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 19 June 2012

The church at Portrunny was likely built in the early medieval period, associated with the territory of Hy Many, and reflects a Gaelic Christian tradition. Its location on a hill and mention in historical records highlight its strategic and religious significance in the region.