Church in Clondalkin

Survey work by Dublin County Council in 1962 for a housing scheme at Clondalkin, Co. Dublin, identified an earthen banked enclosure, the exact nature of which was uncertain. The former existence of the church was recorded in the name of the field in which it lay. On a map of the Estate of James Marinus Kennedy, dated 1761, this field is referred to as the "Chappie Field", and on an untitled map of the Clondalkin area, undated but not later than 1785, it is referred to as the "Chapel Hill". Writing in 1944, Liam Ua Broin was able to state that this field was even then known as the "Chapel Field" and that: "In it there is a mound with a little out cropping masonry, traditionally regarded as marking a church site, but it may the remains of a rath. On one map "The Chappie" is marked as being beside the road at the southern edge of this area and this church may well have replaced the church on the site investigated. In January, 1964, foundations of a stone nave and chancel church were exposed along with human bones during rescue excavations carried out by Etienne Rynne of the National Museum of Ireland (Rynne 1967, 29-37). The church stood within a roughly oval shaped ecclesiastical enclosure (dims. 48m E-W x 40m N-S) defined by a low earthen bank (Wth 4m, H 0.8m) with no trace of an external fosse. The nave (int. dims. 8.8m E-W x 6.8m N-S; wall T 0.9m) and chancel church (int. dims. 5.3m E-W x 3.5m N-S; wall T 0.9m) stood slightly off-centre within the E quadrant of the enclosure and was entered through diametrically opposed entrances in the centre of the N and S walls of the nave. The entrance on the S wall of the nave had been blocked up in antiquity. An altar which was square in plan (dims. 1.4m x 1.3m) and built in two levels survived at the E end of the chancel. According to Rynne it; 'It seems likely that the lower half [of the altar] served as a platform on which the celebrant stood while the higher half served as the base of the altar, which, possibly, had originally a wooden superstructure. This altar did not appear ever to have been mortared, nor were there any foundations to it, its lower course resting on old ground level. In front of the altar, slightly to the north of centre, was a single, small, squarish slab, 28 cm by 25 cm and 8 cm thick. No functional purpose could be assigned to this slab and it probably came from the altar. During the excavation large quantities of human bones were discovered, most densely concentrated within and around the church, but also scattered elsewhere. Seldom, however, was any articulation noted, and the bones were mixed up in complete disorder. Whenever articulation did occur, it suggested burial with an East-West orientation. During the cuttings made through the foundations of the nave and chancel (see above) several bones and bone fragments were found. Some bones were also found among the stones of the south-western corner of the altar (the only part of the altar which was excavated). The presence of these human bones (mostly of children) in the foundations and incorporated into the structure of the altar suggests that the site had been extensively used for burial before the church was built, a suggestion perhaps further supported by the chaotic dispersal of the bones and the shallow depth at which they were discovered. This theory presupposes the existence of an earlier (wooden?) church somewhere within the enclosure, but no traces of such were discovered'. The excavator concluded that it was; 'possible that a wooden church surrounded by an earthen enclosure may have existed on this site at an early date, perhaps during the 11th century when a fine bronze ring-pin was lost there. Some time later, probably in early Medieval times, a small stone church consisting of nave and chancel was built within the enclosure but before the end of the 18th century this had been destroyed and apparently replaced by another building some distance to the South. The site had been used extensively for burial before the stone church was built and interments possibly continued on the site after its erection' (Rynne 1967, 37). A small housing estate SE of Watery Lane occupies the site. No surface remains visible of the excavated church. See attached map showing location of excavated church and ground plan of church, taken from Rynne 1967 Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 18 July 2023