Killeroran Church

In flat farmland overlooking bogland and the River Suck to E; it stands within a graveyard which is shown on 1st ed. of OS 6-inch map as D-shaped in plan but is now rectangular. The remains comprise a poorly preserved rectangular church (WNW-ESE; L 12.4m, Wth 7.15m). Apart from W gable which is largely destroyed, the other walls still stand. There is a robbed doorway towards E end of S wall. The OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 110-12) noted the existence of a possible window in one of the side-walls and 'an opening ... on one gable ... now a breach 3 feet [0.9m] broad, at the ground, and battered on both sides from near the ground': possibly a trabeate doorway. No visible trace of these features survives. The E end of the interior is occupied by a 19th-C vault of the Kelly family. 'Kelly's Monument', a striking 19th-C folly (H c. 15m) in the form of a round tower (Barrow 1979, 106), stands 80m to NW. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). Date of upload: 05 August 2010