Abbey — Commons

Situated on a shelf on a N and E-facing slope, with a small S-N stream c. 75m to the E. This second church at Fenagh, sometimes known as the abbey church, is c. 130m NE of the larger church (LE025-096001-) but it was the parish chuch and was one of the churches of the rectory of Muinter Eolais after 1471 (Scully 2019, 134). It is rectangular (int. dims c. 19m E-W; c. 5.5m N-S) and divided into two with a barrel vault at the W end, probably to support a defensive accommodation tower. A mural stairs rises in the dividing wall to the first floor over the vault. At the ground floor there was a corridor attached externally to the S wall of the church, and doorways at the centre of the N and S walls. There are two small windows in the N wall and a cusped ogee-headed window in both the E and the W walls. The churches and the earthworks at Fenagh are National Monuments (Harbison 1996, 212). See the attached view of the two churches with this church in the foreground _1 See the attached view from the Down Survey barony map (N at left) reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (Ms 717). This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 3/1994) and is also a National Monument in state ownership: No. 68 Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 6 July, 2017 Amended: 10 January 2020