Church (in Ruins) — Church Hill

Situated on a hilltop known as Mullandoy (Livingstone 1966, 137) with higher hills to the N and S, and on the NE shore of Lough Muckno. This is the site of the original parish church of Muckno, although it is reputed to be an early monastery founded by St Maoldóid but this cannot be confirmed. He was a seventh century saint descended from the Uí Mhéith of Louth / Monaghen, from whom the barony of Omeath in Louth is named (Ó Riain 2011, 439). Maoldóid’s monastery was plundered by the Vikings in 830 and some of the coarbs are known 956-1161 (Shirley 1879, 343-6; Livingstone 1966, 137, 151; Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 42). The church is listed as de Mocynam in the ecclesiastical taxation (1302-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Shirley 1879, 289). It continued as the parish church of Muckno until Lord Blayney built a chapel (MO020-027----) close to his castle at Ballynalurgan in 1690, which became the parish church of Castleblaney (Leslie 1929, 233-6). According to Spottiswood’s visitation of 1622 the parochial centre had been moved to Castleblayney, although a church had not yet been built, and the Catholic Mass was still celebrated at Mullandoy (McKenna 1920, 1, 431-54). The church is visible as the grass-covered foundations of a rectangular structure (dims c. 20m E-W; 9.3m N-S) defined by earthen banks (Wth 2-4m; H 0.3-05m) at the E end with traces of wall-facing while the W end is a low grass-covered cairn (dims c. 12m E-W; c. 7m N-S; H 0.2-0.6m). No architectural features or dressed stones are evident. It is within a subcircular or oval graveyard (dims c. 60m NW-SE; c. 45m NE-SW) defined by the remnants of an earthen bank at W (Wth 2m; int. H 0.7m; ext. H 1.4m) but largely by a stone-faced scarp (H 1.2-1.4m), with mature deciduous trees on the perimeter. There is a gateway at W and the graveyard is protected by external iron railings. The few headstones date from c. 1790 to c. 1820 and have been recorded by Livingstone (1966, 150-1). Part of the octagonal shaft (dims 0.24m x 0.24m; H 0.47m) of a font from the graveyard of Mullandoy has been acquired by the Monaghan County Museum (Walsh 1983, 177). It is decorated with figures and is of fifteenth or sixteenth century date. 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. Revised by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 30 November 2016