Nunnery (in Ruins) — Loughill

On a gentle E-facing slope in wet, marshy terrain. According to the OS Letters of 1839 (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 48), ‘About one hundred yards west of the Church [KK001-004001-] is a small portion of an old wall believed by the people to be a part of an Abbey, and it is said by them that the Church belonged to it. There is no appearance of cut stone in either of these buildings’. Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 115-7), in a discussion on the associated 13th-century church, states that, ‘Some of the old people say that the Irish name of the church is Thomple-a-mooin; others call it Thomple-Meehils or Thomple-Meeals. Both these names may have had their origin in the existence here, in ancient times, of two distinct churches, viz. the parish church, and the church of the monastery or nunnery’. The old wall, indicated on the OS 6-inch map (1899-1902), survives as a short length of upstanding wall (L 2.2m) with a return (L 0.7m) at the NW angle. It is located on the edge of a stream, a side channel of the main stream which flows northward into the Owenbeg River. It is likely that this building is the remains of a mill (KK001-004005-) and its identification as a nunnery or abbey is erroneous. According to Carrigan (ibid.), at this location, ’70 or 80 yards to the west of the church’, are ‘Many remains of the “Nunnery walls and foundations, also mounds, &c., are still to be seen here’. There is no visible trace at ground level of earthworks suggestive of an ecclesiastical foundation. The precise location of this nunnery is unknown. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 30 May 2016