Ruins of Old Church — Donagh

Located on top of a broad hill. The medieval parish church of Donagh is listed as Dunagh in the ecclesiastical taxation (1302-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Shirley 1879, 289), and the names of some of the clergy are known from 1451 (Leslie 1929, 293-300). It is sometimes confused (McKenna 1920, 267-80) with the church of Domhnach maighe dá Chlaoine – the church between the bogs - at Donagh, Co. Fermanagh (Ó Maolagain and Ó Gallachobhair 1955 141). The church of was described as ruinous in 1622 but by the end of the century the parochial centre for Protestant worship had been moved to Glaslough (MO007-014001-), c. 2km to the ENE. There is no evidence of the medieval church although it is probably partly incorporated in the walls of the double mortuary enclosure (ext. dims 13.7m E-W; 7.55m N0S) of the Johnston family that has masonry walls (Wth 0.6-0.7m; max. H 2.8m). There are entrances to both chambers in the N wall, and there is an inscribed stone (Wth 0.6m; H 0.33m) dated 176? on the outside of the W wall. The earliest graveslab within is the central of five against the W wall of the W chamber commemorating Baptist Johnston dated 1710. In 1939 the presence of a possible broken out window in the E wall and another towards the E end of the S wall was noted. A cut stone fragment from a doorway together with a stone mullion (H 1.14m) from a glazed window were also recorded (Paterson et al. 1939, 26). The doorway arch (dims 0.91m x 0.26m x 0.2m) along with a stone corbel (dims 0.66m x 0.25m x 0.28m) with the head of a cleric carved relief was acquired by Monaghan County Museum during the 1970s (Walsh 1979, 117), and in the 1980s a fragment (dims 0.21m x 0.12m x 0.12m) of a cut stone window jamb decorated with a keel moulding of late 12th early 13th century date was also acquired (Walsh 1983, 170). Part of the head of a ringed cross (MO007-014010-) recorded in the 1930s (Paterson et al. 1939) was donated to the County Museum. The graveyard is a sub-triangular area (dims c. 57m E-W; c. 53m N-S) with the base on the S side and with the SE angle missing. It is defined by earthen banks and scarps with hedges, and the headstones, dating largely from the late eighteenth century to the mid nineteenth century, have been recorded (McCarney 1957). The graveyard is now owned by Monaghan County Council, and there is parking for about three cars outside. Within the graveyard there is a cup-marked stone (MO007-014009-), the Donagh cross (MO007-014003-), two cross-bases (MO007-014002-; MO007-014005-), two seventeenth century graveslabs (MO007-014007-; MO007-014008-), and a cross-shaped headstone dated 1666 (MO007-014006-). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of revised upload: 8 November 2016