Rathborney R.C. Chapel

Situated on level ground at the lower E end of the Rathborney valley and just 11m W of a ringfort (CL005-030001-). This is a T-shaped Catholic church with a N-S transept at the E end of the nave. A sacristy is added externally at E and a porch is attached outside the W door. A subrectangular stoup is built into the wall inside the porch door. An inscription on a plaque on the external W wall of the porch reads ‘This chapel was built at the sole expense of the most noble The Marquis of Buckingham in the year 1795 for the advantage of his Tennants’. The porch (int. dims. 3.04m x 3.08m) is entered through a doorway at N with polished limestone jambs. Its walls are not bonded to the walls of the church. The nave (int. L 16m; Wth 6.1-6.24m) is entered through a round-headed doorway (Wth 1.57m). The walls are of stone but brick is used around the window openings of which there are two in the N wall and three in the S. All have round rear-arches; those on the N are largely broken out and those on the S are blocked up. The transept (int. dims. 19.73m N-S by 6.07m) has large pointed windows in the N and S gables and there are two smaller pointed windows in the E wall. There is a subsidiary lintelled entrance doorway (Wth 1.42m) on the W wall of the N transept. The sacristy (int. dims. 4.57m N-S; 3.65m E-W) is entered through a lintelled doorway from the church. There is a door to the outside in the N wall and a window embrasure in the S wall. The church remained in use until about 1860 (Swinfen 1992, 28). Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Michael Moore Date of upload: 19 January 2016