Church in Kells

In low-lying level ground adjacent to the now-derelict ‘Kells Cottage’, immediately E of a working farmyard, on a local road between Corofin and Tubber. Not marked on the first (1842) or Cassini (1916) editions of the OS 6-inch map. A ‘churchyard’ in this townland is alluded to by Aenghus O’Daly c.1617 (Westropp 1906-7, 139). O’Donovan noted that ‘there was formerly a Church’ at the site, ‘but its site is now scarcely traceable. It is probably the Ceandinis which Colgan places in Dalcassia’ (Comber 1997, 42). MacNamara (1900, 31) reported the presence of a church and graveyard (CL017-091002-) in the kitchen garden of ‘Kells Cottage’: ‘the owner, Mr. Conor O’Bryen, tells me that adult human bones have often been dug up, and many headstones, rough and without inscription, have been found there under the surface of the soil. He also states that he was told by a very old resident … that there was a church in this particular ground, and that it was called “St. Catherine’s”’. No visible surface trace of the church survives. A distinct curve in the road (E-S-SW) and in the field boundary to NW of the site may indicate the line of a possible early ecclesiastical enclosure.    Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Eve Campbell    Date of upload: 21-10-2025