Church in Skrine

Skrine is an ecclesiastical name, and the church there was said to have been dedicated to St Thomas according to John O'Donovan writing c. 1837, although he doubted this dedication (O'Flanagan 1931, vol. 1, 14). A church is marked on the Strafford map of c. 1636 at Church Quarter near Moydow (Simington 1949, Athlone (415)), but there are no other references to a church at Skrine. Situated on the SW-facing slope of a SE-NW valley in a karst landscape. This is a rectangular structure (ext. dims 11.9m WNW-ESE; 7.7m NNE-SSW; int. dims 10.5m WNW-ESE; 5.9m NNE-SSW) defined by a double-faced stone wall (Wth 0.7m) which survives best at ESE (max. ext. H 1.6m) and NNE (max. int. H 0.4m), but which can hardly be traced on the other sides. No doorway or other architectural features are recognisable, and no dressed stonework is visible. The church is within a rectangular enclosure (RO042-142001-) (dims 31m NE-SW; 30.7m NW-SE) defined by a grass-covered earth and stone bank at W (Wth 2.5; H 0.5-0.6m) and N (Wth 3.1m; ext. H 0.4-0.7m; int. H 0.8-1m), but the perimeter at SW has been completely removed and almost completely removed at SE. There is a modern entrance (Wth 2.9m) in the centre of the perimeter at NW and a gap (Wth 2m) at the NW end of the NE bank and at its centre (Wth 1.6m). When the perimeter at SE was removed a small slight rectangular enclosure (dims c. 20m NE-SW; c. 10m E-W) defined by a slight bank or scarp (max. H 0.4m) was created outside the perimeter. The interior of the church and the part of the enclosure to the NE of the church was utilised as a children's burial ground (RO042-142002-). It is a trapezoidal area (dims 10-20m NW-SE; 17m NE-SW) occupied by stone grave-markers (dims c. 0.3m x 0.4m x 0.5m), many upright or tilted, but most are laid flat. A quarry face (RO042-142003-) (L c. 30m; H 0.5m), from which the stones for the church were probably derived, is beyond the perimeter at SW and is generally aligned N-S. A modern quarried area (dims 23m x 23m) just to the E of the enclosure may be where an early bronze hand bell (Higgins 2006) was found.