Church (in Ruins) — Inis Gé Thuaidh

Prominently sited on the level summit of a broad, low hill on the SW side of Inishkea North. The position provides good views across the island, especially to E where Bailey Mór mound (MA023-014003-) rises from the machair plain. Inishkea South is also visible, dominated by its highest peak, Knocknaskea. This part of the island is subdivided into small fields enclosed by drystone field walls and traversed by cultivation ridges. The cultivation ridges extend right up to the church walls on the E, S and W. An E−W grassed over road/laneway lies immediately N of the church, leading from the village at E to the field system. This early medieval church is named St. Columbkille’s Church’ on the 1838 and 1921 OS 6-inch maps. It is a National Monument in state ownership (379). Ruined, roofless, stone-built rectangular building (int. 3.36m N−S; 6.26m E−W) constructed of large blocks and slabs with small stones and traces of rough sandy mortar filling the interstices. None of the walls (Wth 0.68m) stands to original height. The W wall has a centrally located doorway. The wall stands to a maximum height of 1.95m, rising to about one course above the doorway. The doorway (H 1.65m; D 0.77m E−W) is trabeate in style, wider at the base (Wth 0.75m N−S), narrowing towards the top (Wth 0.47m N−S) where it is capped by a lintel. The S side of the doorway is formed by a single upright slab/jamb stone; the N side by courses of blocks and slabs. The E wall (H 3.2m) is constructed of large blocks from ground level up to about the height of the window lintel, but above this the stone work changes to smaller stones laid in roughly horizontal courses, suggesting that the upper part of the gable may have been rebuilt. A roughly rectangular, buttress-like heap (1.6m N−S; 0.7m E−W; H 0.8m) of stones abuts the S end of the exterior wall face. The window (int. H 0.52m; Wth 0.64m at base, 0.5m at top) is slightly off centre to S in the E wall. It has a flat lintel at top and a single stone forms the sill on the interior. Externally, the window is partly broken out and blocked up with rough stones; a shaped sill stone is visible, but it is unclear if it is in its original position. The S wall is in poor condition, surviving to a height of 1.25m, and is topped with loose stones. The N wall retains only its lower courses (H 0.45-0.5m), built of large blocks, and now has a slight inward bulge. It has been subsumed into a later drystone field wall (Wth 0.5m; H 0.7m) which defines the S side of an E-W ‘road’/laneway (Wth 1.5m) leading from the 19th-century village through the grid of fields. A bench-like, drystone-built altar (L 2.17m N−S; Wth 0.55m E−W; H 0.66m) abuts the inner face of the E wall, extending from the S wall and ending 1.2m short of the N wall. It is built of horizontally-laid slabs, with a large slab providing a roughly flat, upper surface. A plain, smooth-surfaced rounded stone (diam. 0.27m), with a shallow oval hollow (14cm x 10cm; D 1-2cm) in its upper surface, rests on top of the altar. Lying prostrate on the ground in front of the altar is a slab (L 0.88; Wth 0.25-0.27m; T 0.11m), now in two pieces, with a shallow flat-based subrectangular hollow (L 0.23m; Wth 0.16m; D 0.06m) in its upper surface. An 11th century date is possible for the construction of this church, but the off-centre position of the E window and the altar and irregularities in the wall masonry suggest that it may have been altered at a later stage. Attached images: MA023-015001-_01.JPG Church viewed from SW MA023-015001-_02.JPG Church viewed from W MA023-015001-_03.JPG Doorway in W wall MA023-015001-_04.JPG Church viewed from N, with ruined wall of laneway in front of it MA023-015001-_05.JPG Interior face of the N wall MA023-015001-_06.JPG Interior viewed from NW, showing altar with window above MA023-015001-_07.JPG Window in the E wall Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 28 July 2023