Church (in Ruins)

On a broad terrace on the SE side of the Nuenna river valley, the river flowing c. 120m to the NW, surrounded by pasture. There are good views SW-NE along valley and NW across valley. The church is orientated NE-SW and centrally placed within a graveyard (KK013-032002-). According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 370) the church belonged to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, St. John's Abbey, Kilkenny. A church (dims. 19m E-W; 6m N-S; wall T 1.67m) of roughly coursed rubble. A central gable, presumably containing the chancel arch, is described in the OS Letters (1839) as being, 'down to the level of the side walls' and at a distance of 'thirty eight and a half feet [c. 11.7m] from the western gable' (O'Flanagan ed. 1930, vol. 1, 170 (55-6)). There is a broken-out doorway (Wth 1.5m) in the S wall, 3.5m from the SW angle externally and there was possibly another doorway in the opposite wall where the wall has been rebuilt. There are two broken out windows towards the E end of the church, in the N and S wall respectively, both broken out. The end gables stand to more or less their full height though the E window is also broken out. Carrigan (ibid.) noted a 13th-century graveslab (KK013-032003-) in the chancel which was subsequently broken up. The OS Letters (1839) mention, 'an old grave of one of the Shortalls' in the graveyard (ibid.). However, according to Carrigan (ibid.), 'there are many monuments here to members of the Shortall family, but none of them older than the middle of the 18th century'. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 30 July 2019