Stickillin Church (in ruins) — Stickillin

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007 Divided nave (max. dims. 15m by 5m) and chancel (max. dims. 7m by 3.9m) built of limestone and greywacke and surviving only at the lower levels except for the W gable which appears to be almost at its original height. There are the remains of piers of a Romanesque chancel arch which have almost plain jambs of hard greyish sandstone set in a single order. The W faces are decorated with incised vertical double lines on the three lowest courses. The E faces of the jambs are not decorated. Various pieces of cut sandstone are to be found around the site, including arch stones, some of which have been built into a relatively modern stone altar in the chancel. One fragment of the arch has a row of beading and a mortise hole, while most have clear evidence of diagonal tooling. There are the remains of a plain doorway with roughly shaped sandstone jambs and reveals in the W end of the S wall of the nave. The W gable has the remains of a possible bellcote. The church was partially excavated and renovated by the Louth Archaeological Society under the supervision of D. MacIvor (CLAJ 1956, 400-3) and a number of archaeological finds were recovered, including medieval stained glass, late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century pottery, and a coin of Edward III. (CLAJ 1943, 210)