Old R.C. Chapel — An Cnocán Carrach

In rough pastureland sloping to the S, on the N side of the old Galway-Barna road and to the W of the roadway leading to the Silver Strand. Described in the OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1927a, Vol. 1, 345) as 'Barna old chapel' to distinguish it from the later R.C. Chapel, which stood c. 90m to its WSW, suggesting that it may be the site of a pre-emancipation R.C. church. On inspection in February 1989 the church (ext. dims. 15.5m E-W; 6m N-S; wall T 0.7m), which occupied the NW corner of a small field, was in a very ruinous condition. It was constructed of uncoursed mortared roughly cut blocks of granite. Both overgrown gables survived, that to the E was 3m high. The N wall survived to a maximum height of 1.5m and the S wall was partially destroyed but its lower courses were intact. No architectural features were evident. The interior of the church was completely overgrown and occupied by field-clearance debris. The remains of a small stone structure were visible near the SE corner. On re-inspection in October 2019 it was noted that the church was much more densely overgrown and the interior was inaccessible. A graveyard (GA093-003003-) is associated and a holy well (GA093-003001-) lies c. 40m to the E. (Gosling 1993, 103) The following images have been uploaded: GA093-003002-_01 Overgrown W gable.jpg GA093-003002-_02 NW corner from W GA093-003002-_03 Looking W from NW corner Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 17 October 2019