Church in Liberties OF Carlingford

This freestanding former Church of Ireland church, dated 1821, incorporates fabric of earlier buildings and now serves as a Heritage Centre for Carlingford. The core fabric of the church appears to date to the later 17th century and is attached to a tower of late 16th/early 17th century date. The following description of the tower is derived from Bradley and King (1985, 45): ‘The tower is rectangular and has four floors with a parapet level above. There is an external batter at the base splaying from a string course on the west wall which separates the ground floor from the first floor. The masonry consists of coursed limestone and slate rubble. It is entered in the south wall through a round-headed door of modern date. In the east wall is a pointed chamfered arch which would have linked the tower with the nave originally. A lintelled rectangular window in the west wall, blocked with masonry, is visible externally but no trace shows through the plaster of the interior. Access to the upper floors would have been by ladder or wooden stair originally. On the first floor there is a rectangular opening in the east wall, a lintelled rectangular window in the west wall (visible externally) and a large pointed window in the south; all have been built up. The second floor has a lintelled rectangular opening in the east wall, a small straight lintelled slit with internal splay in the west wall and a blocked up window of uncertain form in the north wall. The third floor was the belfry stage and has a large window placed centrally in each wall. Unfortunately none of their tracery survives although it may be noted that while the east window alone is pointed, all have flat rear arches. The parapet is stepped and is supported by an external string course.’ Following deconsecration in 1991 restoration work led to the discovery of a number of skeletons under the floor boards of the church. These yielded radio carbon dates of AD 1442-1650 and AD 1517-1666 (Gleeson and Moore 1993, 44-5). Further building work in 1999 led to the discovery of two more skeletons (Bermingham 2000, 189). Compiled by: Claire Breen Updated by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 23 May 2016