Knigh Church (in Ruins)

Situated on a slight rise in pastureland, the church is at the N end of a roughly rectangular graveyard (TN014-051002). It is listed in the ecclesiastical taxation of the Diocese of Killaloe in 1302 (CDI, vol. 5, 302) and the Royal Visitation of 1615 described the church as 'ruined with no chancell' (Murphy 1914, 219). It is built of roughly coursed limestone rubble (dims. 9.15m N-S; 18m E-W; wall T 0.85m). The E window is of limestone with trefoil-pointed tracery and hood-moulding, all with punch dressing. The original doorway in the N wall has been much altered during a FÁS scheme. The entrance (Wth 0.9m) in the W end of the S wall has been rebuilt but is probably original (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 18). There is a small rectangular window in the W gable within a stepped rectangular embrasure. The E end of the N wall has a limestone ogee-headed window and near the E gable in the S wall there is a round-headed single-light window with punch dressing. The priest's quarter in the W end was divided from the church by a partition wall (T 0.9m) which provides a two-storey chamber 2.4m wide. This chamber was apparently later used as a burial place for 'the un-Irish families of Fletcher and Minnit' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 18). The door is chamfered externally and has drafting which appears to be of late sixteenth-century date. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008