Church (Site of) — Dunmore (fassidinin By.)

On gently sloping land at the edge of steep, though not very high, drop down to the River Nore flood plain, in rolling pasture. The Nore flows NW-SE c. 50m SW of the graveyard. There are fair to good views in all directions, with land rising gently to the NE and W. The church is located in the N portion of an irregularly shaped graveyard (KK14-058002-). According to O’Kelly (1969, 40) this is the location of, ‘the ancient parish church recorded as Domhnach Mór na Trionóide Naomhtha e.e. great church of the Holy Trinity’. Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 271) states that there are, ‘no remains of the ancient church of the Holy Trinity’ and that the, ‘Protestant church that occupied its site was cleared away about 1875’. The OS Letters (1839) describe the church as, ‘a modern Protestant Church and a burying ground attached’ (O’Flanagan (ed.) 1930, vol. 1, 39 (13)). In 1876-8 it was recorded that the ‘Church of Dunmore’ had been ‘recently thrown down’ (Anon. 1876-8, 110). A part of a moulded round-headed arch of the church door (KK014-058003-), bearing the date 1604 in the spandrel, had been removed and is inserted in the external face of the wall of the entranceway of the house opposite the graveyard (ibid.). It appears that the bell from this church had been donated, as indicated on an inscription on the bell, by James, Duke of Ormonde in 1682, who possibly also donated the white and black flagstones, both these and the bell were removed to St Mary’s Church Kilkenny (ibid.). It is unclear whether a 17th-century church replaced a medieval church or whether the medieval church was refitted in the 17th century. There is no visible trace of the church at ground level. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 8 June 2020