Moyaliff Church (in Ruins)

Situated on a gradual NE-facing slope in undulating terrain, on the N side of a roughly square-shaped graveyard (TN046-006005); within the medieval borough of Moyaliff (TN046-006). Listed in the ecclesiastical taxation of the Diocese of Cashel in 1302 (CDI, vol. 5, 280). The church (ext. dims. 9.1m N-S; 24.6m E-W; wall T 0.92m) is composed of roughly coursed limestone and sandstone with an external base-batter 0.8m high and 0.17m wide. It is entered through a pointed sandstone doorway with external chamfer at the W end of the S wall with a pointed relieving arch above the doorhead. This door has an internal rebate with a drawbar-hole in the E wall, a receiver in the W wall and slots below for securing the door. According to the OS Letters a flat-headed window was visible in the S wall (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 185). The W wall has no windows - the lower portion has been crudely pointed and the apex of the gable survives intact with a recess for roof timbers. OS Letters describe two windows in this wall, both disfigured (ibid., 185). The S wall has a gap broken through near the E end. A vertical slot in the S wall c. 11m from the W gable may have contained a wooden partition, however, the wall is quite disturbed at this point. Architectural fragments have been reused as grave-markers including a window jamb outside the S wall of the church. 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

Moyaliff Church was likely built in the 13th or 14th century by a local patron or ecclesiastical authority, serving the medieval borough of Moyaliff. Its style reflects a typical rural medieval church, and it is significant as part of the recorded ecclesiastical landscape of the region, mentioned in medieval taxation records.