Clonetly Church (in ruins) — Ballynoe (glenquin By., Ballynoe West Ed)

On slightly raised area in NE quadrant of graveyard (LI037-107---) area the remains of the parish church of Clonelty possibly dedicated to the seventh century St. Ita or Íde of Killeedy (Lewis 1837, 51). The church and graveyard appear to have ben enclosed by a multi-vallate Early Christian enclosure (LI037-051001-). The main fabric of the church and W doorway is Romanesque in character and pre-Norman in date. The arcade and S window appear to be late-medieval insertions, possibly date from the 16th-17th century. Drawings of the church by William F. Wakeman in the 19th century indicate that the church had stone capitals decorated with carved faces on the corner of the capitals in characteristic Romanesque fashion (NLI PD 1975 TX 33 (69) ). The location of these decorated Romanesque capitals has not been identified. A copy of this drawing was made by William Frazer and is kept in his sketch book of Irish antiquities (NLI, ). Roofless ruin of rectangular church (int. rims. 10.2m E-W; 6.42m N-S), though most of E and N walls have fallen were down before 1840 (OSL vol. 1, 50). Built of roughly coursed sandstone blocks, many of which are dressed with diagonal tooling; upper part of W gable probably rebuilt as built of smaller rubble stones. Doorway in centre of W wall of dressed sandstone blocks with inclined jambs and semi-circular arch but no moulding or door surround (OSL vol. 1, opp. 51). On the inside of W wall is fragmentary remains of arcade of three round-arched recesses, higher and wider than doorway which is framed by central recess; their arches are slightly more pointed than arch of doorway). This arcade appears to be addition built against inside of original W wall. Single window survives near E end of S wall; splayed and lintled embrasure with single flat headed light of limestone. Fragment of stone wall (L 2.2m; Wth 1.6m) extends outwards from W end of S wall; it is butted against S wall and part of later structure. According to present landowner there was a "stone water font" inside the doorway until recently but its location is not now know. Local folklore recorded the presence of an ogham stone (LI037-051002-) that had been incorporated into the fabric of the pre-Norman church (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0488, 450-1). Clonelty church ruins described in 1840 as following; ‘The name of this Parish is not of ecclesiastical origin but derived from that of the Townland in which the original Church was placed, which Townland derived its name from Cluain, an insulated meadow or bog island, and Eilte, the genitive case of Eilit, a Doe. The old Church of Cloonelty, which is situated in a Cluain in the Townland of Ballynoe and about three and a half miles west wards of Ballingarry. It is an ancient building which was partly modernized and fitted up for a Protestant Church after the Reformation. It was never divided into nave and choir, but forms an oblong little building measuring on the inside thirty three feet five inches [10.2m] in length and twenty one feet [6.4m] in breadth . Its side walls are thirteen feet [4m] in height and three feet [0.9m] in thickness. The east gable is destroyed except, a few feet of its base and a small fragment at the south east corner six or seven feet [2m] higher than the south side wall, but the side walls and a west gable are in good preservation, and the west gable is clothed with strong ivy which will soon tumble it by catching the storms and separating the stones by the insertion of its roots. At the distance of three feet [0.9m] from the east end there is on the south wall a small window which measures on the inside four feet six inches [1.4m] in height and four feet two inches [1.3m] in width and on the outside where it (i.e., its lower part) is placed at the height of five feet five inches [1.65m] from the present level of the ground, three feet [0.9m] in height and only six and a half inches [0.15m] in width. On the inside it forms a flat arch at the top and its sides are built of cut freestone, but on the outside it is rectangular and constructed of cut lime stone. The west gable contains a semi-circular headed doorway measuring six feet eleven inches [2.1m] in height and in width two feet seven inches [0.8m] where the arch springs, and two feet ten inches [0.85m] at the bottom. It is built of fine blocks of chiselled sand stone and looks very ancient. The west gable was surmounted with a small belfry, the top of which is now destroyed. There is a fragment of a wall extending southwards from the west gable, which would seem a part of a lateral building and another extending northwards from the east gable. The doorway in the west gable appears very old, but I would say that it is as old as the time of Saint Maidoc or Columbkille. It is however a very curious specimen of ancient architecture and well worthy of preservation (OSL 50-1). Westropp (Westropp 1904-5, 413-4) recorded the following details about Clonelty; 'A parish. Cluonelti, 1201. Granted by Bishop Robert to Hugh and Ismay de Possewyk, 1254 (B.B.L., xvi.) ; Adam Flaundrens granted Clonylte to Bishop Gerald, 1275-80 (ib., p. 90), who had a; suit with Pagan de Sniterby, 1280, and Richard de Clare had another in 1317 with Adam, vicar of Clonelth church about lands at Clonelth (Mem. R.), Clonelthy, 1302; Cluainelty, 1418. It was dedicated to St. Ita (Lewis), Cluain eilte, 'plain of the doe. Fabric - The church lies in Ballynoe, and has been remodelled. It was pre-Norman, 33½ feet by 21 feet. The east gable and south-west angle fell before 1840, The south window has lintelled splay and light; the west door, a round arch of well-cut gritstone, with no keystone; walls extend south from the west end, and north from the east'. According to Begley (1906, 103-5) 'The old church is now popularly known as Ballinoe, and has the appearance of being very old. It was partly modernized and fitted up for Protestant worship after the Reformation. It was never divided into a nave and choir, but forms one oblong building. It measures about 50 feet [15.25m] in length and 21 feet [6.4m] in breadth. The eastern gable has almost entirely disappeared, but the western one is in a fair state of preservation and covered with ivy. In the southern wall, about 3 feet [0.9m] from the eastern gable there is a small window which measures in the inside 4 feet 6 inches in height, and 4 feet 2 inches in breadth. It forms a flat arch at top, and its sides are built of cut freestone. On the outside it is rectangular in shape and constructed of cut limestone. The west gable contains a semi-circular headed doorway measuring 6 feet 11 inches in height, and 2 feet 7 inches in width where the arch springs, and 2 feet 10 inches at bottom. O'Donovan, who visited this place, looked on it as a very curious specimen of our ancient architecture, and well worth preserving'. See attached drawing of West Doorway drawn by John O'Donovan and taken from Ordnance Survey Letters of 1840 Compiled by: Denis Power Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 14 March 2019