Ecclesiastical enclosure in Outrath

According to the OS Letters (1839) the parish church of Outrath (KK023-014001-) was called, 'Teampall Ratha Uachtair, the Church of Ratha Uachtair', where there are, 'small portions of the walls of a Church to be seen here, which they say stood formerly within a Rath. The ground has been so much disturbed by grave digging, that the foundation cannot now be traced' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 264-5 (89)). Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 228) also mentions that the church stood, ‘according to tradition, within the Rath from which the parish has its name’. The church is within a triangular graveyard (KK023-014002-) with a curve in the public road along the NW side of the graveyard. It is possible that this is the NW wedge of a much larger, roughly circular, ecclesiastical enclosure (diam. c. 120m). Archaeological excavations (excavation licence no. 96E0387) in advance of the construction of a small reservoir, c. 10m S of the W end of the S boundary of the graveyard, revealed a spread of settlement debris (dims. 2m x 2.5m; D 0.04-0.1m), including charcoal, animal bones and several fragments of medieval pottery (Reid 1996; Reid 1997, 60-61). These provide further evidence of a medieval enclosure which extending beyond the current limits of the graveyard. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 1 June 2021