What is recorded here

Outlined is a large oval ecclesiastical enclosure in County Limerick, Ireland, preserving the memory of Cill Fhíonnachta and its rectangular graveyard. The earthen bank still stands beside white thorn bushes that gave the place its local name, while the church itself has vanished into soil and silence. What remains is not a building but a boundary, shaping the land around a saint and a burial ground no longer visible.

Medieval church of Cill Fhíonnachta / church of Fíonnachta, anglicised Killeenoghty (LI022-057001-) stood in the centre of a rectangular-shaped graveyard (LI022-057002-) both of which lie in the S quadrant of a large oval-shaped ecclesiastical enclosure (LI022-057003-). Described in 1840 as 'Teampal na Sgeach is a local name signifying, "the church of the whitethorn bushes". It received this name because several large white thorn bushes stand here. There is a small graveyard around them' (OSNB, 1085). The Ordnance Survey letters recorded that the name of this parish is in 'Irish Cill Fhionachta which signifies the Cell or Church of Fionachta [Fionshneachta], who is believed to have been a Saint' (OSL, 148). Present remains consist of a large oval-shaped area (approx. dims. 154m NNE-SSW x 100m E-W) enclosed by a well preserved earthen bank clearly visible on Digital Globe aerial photographs. Traces of a possible inner enclosing element may be visible as a curving field boundary running N off NE angle of graveyard wall. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 03 January 2019

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.