Coolcraheen Church (in ruins) — Shanganny

On the gently rising E side of the Nore river valley, in rolling grassland. Aligned E-W N of centre in a sub-square graveyard (KK010-060002-). There are good views in all directions. A nave (int. dims. 10m E-W; c. 6m N-S; wall T 0.6m) and chancel (int. dims. 5.6m E-W; 4m N-S; wall T c. 0.7m) church of roughly coursed rubble masonry, though only the S wall of the nave survives and a short length of return at E and W ends and most of the chancel, except the W end of the N wall. The church is very overgrown, the walls obscured by heavy ivy growth and the interior covered in brambles. There is a pointed doorway (Wth 0.89m; H 1.6m), punch-dressed with drafted margins, chamfered externally, in the S wall of the nave, 4.5m from the W gable. There are two broken out window opes in the S wall, one near the W gable and the other E of the doorway. There is a sketch of the latter window in the OS Letters (1839) (O’Flanagan ed. 1930, vol. 1, 25 (8-9)) and it is described by Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 194) as, ‘a flat-headed window with cut-stone frame, chamfered at the edge; externally, it is but 4 in. [0.1m] wide and 3 ft. 5 in. [1m] high; on the inside, it splays to a width of 5 ft. [1.5m]. This window was never glazed, being merely furnished with a wooden shutter, the curious heel-stone of which appears in situ inside’. Carrigan (ibid.) also noted two corbels towards the W end of the S wall, suggesting there was a gallery at the W end of the nave. The chancel is lit by a central E window, described by Carrigan (ibid.) as, ‘6 ft. 2 in. [1.87m] high and 13 in. [0.33m] wide, on the outside, with an internal splay 4 ft. [1.2m] wide, on the inside’. The surrounds of the E window are missing, with only the voussoirs surviving. The E splay of a window embrasure survives in the N wall. On either side of the E window Carrigan (ibid., 195) describes, ‘two apertures, 5 or 6 in. [0.12-0.15m] square, though and through the wall. He also notes that the chancel is not bonded to the nave, appearing to be of slightly later date (ibid.). There is a segmental-headed doorway (Wth 0.82m; H c. 1m) in the S wall of the chancel, only the thin voussoirs survive. According to Carrigan (ibid., 194), this doorway ‘formerly led into the sacristy; at present it leads into a modernly built enclosure, which contains the tombs of the Murphy family of Gragara and Annaghs castle’. Within the chancel Carrigan (ibid. 195-6) notes a 13th/14th century graveslab (KK010-060004-) and a dispersed wall monument (KK010-060003-). He also refers to a font (KK010-060005-/KK010-083----) which was moved from here to the churchyard of Conahy R.C. church (ibid. 196). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 4 March 2019