Church (in ruins) — Troyswood

On a pronounced bluff between the steeply sloping S side of the Nore river valley and the broad plateau to the S, in grassland. A stream runs along the SE boundary flowing c. 900m to the NE to meet the Nore. It is located in the NE quadrant of a large, roughly rectangular graveyard (KK014-056002-). There are extensive views in all directions. The OS Letters (1839) describe, ‘a large burying ground, and a bit of the wall of a Church in the Townland of Druim Deilgneach, i.e., the Thorny Ridge or Hillock. Part of a castle wall joins this ruin at the east end and portion of a court or yard wall remain on the south side’ (O’Flanagan (ed.) 1930, vol. 2, 77-8 (25-6)). On the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map the church is indicated as a rectangular structure orientated NW-SE with another building (L c. 8m; Wth c. 5m) adjoining at the NE quadrant. On the 1946-7 revision the church is orientated N-S, with the NE building at a slight remove from the church. Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 194-6) relates a detailed history of the church and argues against its claimed affiliation with the Dominican Priory in Kilkenny. According to Carrigan (ibid.), it was originally a diocesan church, the earliest mention being c. 1300 when it was under the patronage of the Travers family. It had passed to the Troys by the middle of the 15th century, who in 1454-5 transferred it to Edmund mac Richard Butler, who in turn transferred it to St Francis Abbey, Kilkenny in 1479 (ibid. 195). Once transferred to the Franciscans, the church, ‘lost its status and sank to the level of a capella or chapel’ and its small parish was merged in the civil parish of St Canice’s, Kilkenny (ibid.). Among the possessions surrendered by the St Francis Abbey at its dissolution in 1540 were, ‘the appurtances [satellite possessions], in Dumnart [i.e. Donore], alias Troeswoodde’ (ibid.). The church is described as, ‘a quadrangle 38 ft. [11.5m] long and 24½ ft. [7.45m] wide, internally, the walls being only 2 ft. [0.6m] thick. At present little more than its foundations remains. Attached to it, at its north-east angle, was a castle, a fragment of a wall of which about 5 ft. [1.5m] thick, yet stands’ (ibid.). When visited in 1987 only fragmentary remains of the SW angle of the church (wall T. c. 0.8-0.9m; H c. 2m), built of roughly coursed rubble, were visible. This consisted of portion of the S wall (L c. 6m from SW angle) and a short length (c. 1.5m) of the W wall. The building to the NE has been indicated as a ‘Castle (in ruins)’ on the 1st ed. OS map and on the subsequent 1946-7 revision, however, it is more likely that this was a residential tower for the priest, a presbytery. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 8 June 2020