Ecclesiastical enclosure in Baunaghra, County Laois

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What is recorded here

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Described by Carrigan as 'The Church (LA033-017001-) of Bawnaghra, in Irish Kyle-aghra, stands in the centre of the "Church field", a tract of 10 acres, now broken up into several small, plots, but formerly constituting one undivided area surrounded by a triple rampart of earth and double fosse. Portions of the ramparts, known as "the old sconces", yet remain. A great battle is said to have been fought here, and cart-loads of human bones, the remains of the fallen, were discovered years ago, while the ramparts were being cut through to prepare the site for James Curran's dwellinghouse. The graveyard (LA033-017002-) at the south side, has been destroyed and rich corn crops now grow over the remains of the dead. A short distance away there is a well, not holy, called Thubberachoppel, the horse's well' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 283). A large circular enclosure is indicated on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map. The circuit of this enclosure (diam. c. 280m E-W x c. 230m N-S) is marked as 'The Sconces' on the revised 1908 ed. OS 25-inch map. Aerial photographs (OSI 2005) show that the enclosing bank of the enclosure has been levelled and is visible as a cropmark in aerial photographs (OSI 2000).

From the National Monuments Service (Archaeological Survey of Ireland) record LA033-017005

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Photo credits

Mike Searle, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
A.-K. D., Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
A.-K. D., Wikimedia Commons · CC0
Mike Searle, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
Willow, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.5
Lár na Páirce Museum, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

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