Church in Aghmacart

Not marked on the 1840 or 1906 eds OS 6-inch maps. The church was destroyed in 1640 (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, 177). No visible surface remains. According to the History of the Queens County 'It contained fifteen townlands, and it was an impropriate vicarage, worth £91 in the year 1640. The parsonage, church, and monastery, in this parish, were then totally demolished' (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, 177-8). According to Carrigan 'The ancient Parish Church of Aghmacart stood in ruins till the episcopate of the Protestant Bishop, Dr. Pocock (1756-65), who had the cahncel fitted up as a parish church. This chancel, which still serves as the Protestant church of the district, stands, most strangely, due north and south. It measures, internally, 34 ft. by 23 ft., the side walls being 15 ft. high, the south gable 3 ft. 8 in. thick and the east side wall 3 ft. thick. The east side-wall has two large Gothic windows, framed, within and without, with chiselled limestone; if, as is very likely, they were traceried originally, the tracery has disappeared. In the middle, between those windows, is a cut stone locker, chamfered on the edges, and measuring 16 in. every way. No windows now appear in the west side-wall; but at the north end, a slab, 26 in. by 29 in., exhibiting a carving of rich foliage, in relief, serves as a lintel over a small fire-place; its original purpose apparently was to ornament the top of a statue niche. There was a fine gothic cut-stone window, high up, in the south gable, to the rere of the ancient altar, but its tracery has been removed and some modern work substituted for it; on the outside it has a hood-moulding, ending at each side in foliage similar to that to be seen at Potterlath church. Underneath this window a modern door has been broken out, which is now the main entrance to the church. The north gable is six feeth six inches thick. Its one feature of interest and that the most interesting feature among the ruins of Aghmacart, is the choir-arch so masive and solid. It is perfectly round at top, of beautifull chiselled limeston, chamfered at the edges, and ornamented underneath with two semi-circular ribs, one single, the other double, both ending at the sides in plain carvings; its width is 11 ft., and height, to the apex of the arch 12 ft.' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 238-9). This above building described by Carrigan still survives as the Church of Ireland church is part of the medieval Augustinian priory (LA034-019003-) of Aghmacart and is the same building that Dr. Pococke restored in the 18th century. The building itself is orientated on a N-S axis and was originally part of the domestic range of buildings to the S of the cloister that was attached to the Augustinian priory. 5m S of the N gable along both side walls of the church there are the fragmentary remains of a wall which ran off this building on its E and W sides located off centre to N. This wall may have been part of the cloister wall of the priory off which ran this domestic range that was later converted into a Protestant church. In the centre of the S gable at first floor level there is a fine 15th or 16th century limestone pointed window with vine leaf decorated hood moulding terminals. The doorway into the 19th century porch appears to have been a late medieval limestone doorway, that was re-used in the 19th century. The majority of memorials are to the E of this building which would have been in the area to the S of the Augustinian Priory. There are numerous architectural fragments littered around the graveyard and incorporated into the graveyard wall. There are several late medieval limestone dumbell pier bases of the cloister scattered around the graveyard (LA034-019005-). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007