Church (in ruins) — Leitrim More

In undulating pastureland, occupying the N half of a graveyard (GA116-084002-). On inspection in June 1983, all that survived of this poorly preserved and crudely constructed church (int. dims. 20m E-W; 7m N-S; wall T 0.8m) was the N side-wall, the E gable and the return of the W gable (L 1.2m). O'Donovan recorded a short isolated stretch of the S side-wall (L c. 6m) in 1838 (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 2-3) but no visible surface trace of it was evident. O'Donovan (ibid.) also recorded two lancet windows, one in the E gable and one in the N wall; at that time, due to dense ivy growth, the E window was not visible in the external wall-face and the top of the the window in the N wall was missing. Due to further growth of the ivy the windows were no longer visible. However, street view imagery on Google Earth dated June 2009 shows that most of the ivy has been removed from the E gable, exposing the E window again. Dr C. Cunniffe brought the following architectural fragments from the church to our attention: two carved heads, which were probably the the stops of a moulding over over the original doorway or one of the windows, and the sillstone of a window; they are now set into the external wall-face of the graveyard. The sillstone is most likely of 13th-century date. The area to the N of the church is locally believed to mark a children's burial ground. The following images have been uploaded: GA116-084----_02.jpg View of head stops GA116-084----.pdf View of E gable Compiled by: Olive Alcock Updated by: Olive Alcock Date of revised upload: 20 July 2023