Templedermot — Inchcleraun

National Monument No. 91. Within the ESE sector of the ecclesiastical enclosure (LF021-048001-) on Inchcleraun, and one of four churches in the enclosure, see also ‘Templemore’ (LF021-48004-) c. 5m to the N, ‘Templemurry’ (LF021-048006-) c. 30m to the NNW, and ‘Church of the Dead (LF021-048002-) c. 60m to the NW. A fifth church, known as The Women's Church or Lady Church (LF021-048007-) is outside the enclosure, c. 100m to the SSW. A sixth church ‘Clogas’ (LF021-046----) is c. 450m to the NW. This church, dedicated to St Diarmuid, is the earliest church on the island. A 13th-century Norse tale, 'Speculum Regale', records there was 'a holy man called Diermicius, and he had there a church for himself, where he had his seat' (Meyer 1910, 8). According to Hills (1860, 337), the church was supposed to ‘mark S. Diermit's grave'. The Martyrology of Donegal notes that the feast day of 'Diarmait, bishop, of Inis-Clothrann' was held on the 10th of January (O'Donovan 1864, 401). A painting by Daniel Grose indicates that only the W gable of the church survived by the 19th century (Stalley 1991, 78) and Hills (1860, 337) noted that, apart from this gable, all the other walls were 'levelled nearly to the ground'. These walls were partially rebuilt by the Board of Works in the 19th century (51st Rep. public works, Ire. 1882-3, 101). This small early medieval church (ext. dims. 4.45m E-W; 3.15m N-S; int. dims. 2.5m E-W; 2.1m N-S; wall T 0.45-0.55m), constructed of thin, coursed limestone slabs with projecting antae (Wth 0.45m; D 0.3m) at each gable end, dates to the 10th century (Manning 2009, 270). It is similar in size to that known as ‘Temple Ciarán’ (OF005-013001-) in Clonmacnoise, county Offaly and it is the smallest stone-built church in Ireland (O'Keeffe 2003, 69). The masonry style is similar to that of W end of the N wall of Templemore, suggesting contemporaneity (Hills 1860, 335). It is also similar to a church (TN042-055001-) at Liathmore in North Tipperary (Farrelly and O'Brien 2002, 253). The side walls only measure 0.45m in thickness, which suggests that they were not designed to carry a heavy stone roof or else that they were not rebuilt to their original width. The narrow, flat-headed trabeate doorway in the centre of the W gable is the only surviving architectural feature. This church may have been the focus of pilgrimage to the island as it may have been the tomb-shrine of St Diarmuid and it probably housed other relics (Harbison 1992c, 131). It has also been described as a tomb-church (O'Keeffe 2003, 69) or a shrine-chapel (Ó Carragáin 2010, 66-8). It may be the church, referred to in the Martyrology of Donegal, which records the tradition that 'no woman or female child can touch his Relig (sepulchral church)' (O'Donovan 1864, 401). Bigger (1900, 72, 85) recorded that one of the cross-slabs (LF021-048005-) from the island was located between it and ‘Templemore’. (Leask 1955, vol. 1, 50-51, 61; Moore 2007, No. 13) Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 5 June 2013 This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 5/1981).