St. Mels Cathedral (in Ruins) — Ardagh Demesne

On level ground close, to the E edge of Ardagh village, and within the SE corner of a graveyard (LF019-051002-). A 19th-century church (C of I) is located c. 30m to the NW. The foundation at Ardagh is traditionally linked with St Patrick; St Mel was its first bishop. Under the 12th-century church reform it became the centre of the diocese and the church was subsequently used as the cathedral, which in 1516 was so ruined that Mass was celebrated only occasionally by one priest at an altar open to the sky (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 61-2). Depicted on an early 17th-century map of Ardagh barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.ii.25) as a small ruined church in the vicinity of a larger roofed church with a possible bell tower (LF019-050001-) and described in the late 17th century as 'a mightie small chapel' (Downing 1932, 23). In the late 19th century Farrell (1891, 174) recorded that the windows were 'of the lancet description common to such buildings in old times'. Excavations in 1967 revealed that the church was constructed upon the site of an earlier timber church (LF019-051003-), which was possibly of 8th-century date (Harbison 1992a, 229). Remains comprise a partially reconstructed early medieval church (ext. dims. 10.35m E-W; 7.7m N-S; wall T 0.9m; int. dims. 8.6m E-W; 5.83m N-S) with projecting antae (D 0.53m) on both gables. The cyclopean walls, which rest upon a projecting plinth (Wth 0.28m; H 0.2m), are constructed of massive blocks interspersed with smaller stones, similar to the churches at Agharra (LF024-007001-) and Cloondara (LF013-018----). This stonework was described in the late 19th century as being 'composed of several immensely large blocks of rock, each fitting one on top of the other, as though chiselled by the stonecutter, although at this time stonecutters were not procurable. Some of these blocks of stone are fully ten feet [c. 3m] long, and could not weigh less than some tons' (Farrell 1891, 173). Apart from the flat-headed lintelled doorway in the W gable, the church is featureless. (ITA Survey 1944; Moore 2007, No. 12) Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 4 June 2013