Church in Taghshinny

In level pasture c. 10m to the W of a stream, within a graveyard (LF023-097001-) on the N side of Taghshinny village. There are references in the annals to a church here in the 1220s, possibly associated with the monastery on Inchcleraun in Lough Ree (see LF021-48----) (ALC, vol. 1; Corlett 1998, 115-18). In 1475 Thomas Macmurhyrtay was the priest of the parish church (Cal. papal letters 1955, vol. 13, 444). In 1542 the rectory was leased to Walter Tirrell of Dublin (Nicholls 1994, vol. 1, 38) and in 1620 James McConnell Farrall received a land grant, which included the condition that he held an annual fair at Taghshinny ‘on 29 June, the feast of St Peter the apostle' (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 481). The church is depicted on an early 17th-century map of Shrule barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.ii.26). No visible surface trace of it survives. The 18th-century church (C of I) in the centre of the graveyard may have been built on close to its site. An architectural fragment found in rubble close to the N wall of the graveyard and a fragment of a tracery window (Wth 0.21m; T 0.12m) with a glazing groove, also noted against the wall, may be associated with the medieval church. The architectural fragment consists of a subrectangular block (0.44m x 0.44m; T 0.09m) with a rosette decoration, in false relief, in each of the four corners. The two lower rosettes are lightly incised suggesting that they may have been unfinished. Centrally located is an openwork triskele surrounded by a circular band of rope-moulding, also in false relief. This may be the air vent of a garderobe and is possibly an indicator of the former presence of domestic quarters or a residential tower associated with the church. A cross-slab (LF023-097003), fragments of a cross-slab (LF023-097004-) and two 17th-century graveslabs (LF023-097006-, LF023-097007-) were noted in the graveyard. The 18th-century church may incorporate fabric of an earlier 17th-century church that was built by the Annelly family of Tennalick (Anon. 1898, vol. 4 no. 1, 265). There is another 17th-century graveslab (LF023-097005-) within it. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 5 June 2013