Church (ruins)

In pasture, located within a graveyard (MA091-023003-), towards the base of a SW–facing slope. At the base of the slope the ground levels out to an expanse of damp pasture, with a holy well (MA091-023002) located 20m to WNW. This medieval parish church dedicated to St. Colman gave its name to the townland, and is indicated at 'Killcollman' on the 1656-58 Down Survey barony map. The ruins of the church stand on level ground in the SE quadrant of the graveyard. It is a rectangular building (c. 7.5m NNE–SSW; c. 18m WNW–ESE) with walls constructed of roughly coursed limestone with a rubble core. The W gable (T 1.34m) stands to almost its full original height but the N and S ends of the wall are broken and crumbling. The mid-section of the N wall survives to a height of 3m but elsewhere along its length is reduced to heaps of loose stone. Heaps of stones also define the line of the E gable, a short section of which remains intact at its junction with the N wall. The S wall can be traced only as a low sod-covered stony rise, overlain or abutted by several graves. The interior of the church is strewn with loose stones, and is largely obscured by overgrowth. A few fragments of worked/cut stone, one of which appears to be a fragment of a window or door surround, were noted in a moss-covered pile of loose rubble close to the N wall. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 9 February 2022