Church (in Ruins)

In a graveyard (KD031-014001-). According to Ronan (1941b, 96-7), the church was called 'Villa Fonti', and was he says, ‘in waste’ in 1294 according to an Ecclesiastical Taxation. The church and chancel are described as ‘ruinous' in Archbishop Bulkeley’s Visitation of Dublin, 1630 (op. cit). A ruined rectangular structure (traceable L 14.7m E-W; Wth 6.7m N-S) appears to comprise the N and S sidewalls of a medieval church built of random rubble limestone (wall T 0.9m) into which a later (18th/19th-century?) W gable wall (T 0.7m) was inserted. The E gable wall (T 0.75m) also appears to have been rebuilt. The ‘new’ structure (L 9.25m E-W) has a partially robbed out doorway (Wth 1.1m) in the W gable wall, two robbed out windows in the S sidewall, and a robbed out window and a blocked up window embrasure in the N sidewall. The E gable wall contains a round arched window incorporating some red brick and carries a bell cote. A broken font (KD031-014002-) lies in the NW corner of the overgrown interior. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 07 October 2013

The church at Fontstown Lower, known as 'Villa Fonti' in the 13th century, was likely built in the early medieval period, with evidence of its decline by 1294. Its remains, including a church and chancel, are situated within a graveyard and reflect an ecclesiastical presence linked to the wider monastic or parochial network of medieval Ireland.