Beagh Church (in ruins) — Beagh (kiltartan By.)

On the NW side of an irregularly shaped graveyard (GA123-021001-) in relatively flat but rough scrubland, c. 90m to the SE of the Beagh River. On inspection in August 1982 this otherwise well-preserved rectangular medieval church, aligned E-W, was densely overgrown. Two building phases were evident. The W gable and the N and S side-walls of the original building (L >11m; Wth 5.5m) survived along with a broken single-light window and the original doorway, both in the S wall. The latter was constructed of finely dressed jambs chamfered externally and internally but the original head had been replaced by a flat lintel. The masonry of this building phase consisted of well-coursed limestone blocks and finely dressed alternating quoins, all of which suggested a 15th/16th century date. The original E gable was subsequently demolished when the church was extended 6.35m to the E. The stonework of the extension was distinguishable by its smaller size. The single-light window with a triangular head in the E gable and the crude ogee-headed example in the extended portion of the S wall suggested a late 16th/early 17th century for the second phase of construction. At the W end of the church, immediately to the W of the doorway, the foundations of a later internal dividing wall were visible. This and the two external buttresses on the S wall probably also dated from the later period. In the early 1990s the church was cleaned up and re-pointed as part of a FÁS scheme; the repair of the gap in the N wall and the addition of a new buttress to support the W gable were also part of works carried out. (O’Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 495-8; Topgr. Files, NMI). Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 24 January 2020