Church (in Ruins) — Letter

Situated on a slight rise in upland area with holy well (OF037-002003-) to NW. The W end of the N wall are the only standing remains of this poorly preserved church located in the S sector of a possible graveyard (OF037-002002-) which is enclosed by an earth and stone bank. The surviving wall has a simple flat headed window and displays evidence internally of supporting an E-W barrel vault presumably belonging to a priests residence which appears to have been added on to the W end of the church. No other architectural features visible. The church was built with randomly coursed limestone and sandstone blocks. The wall footings the church measured 26.6m E-W by 4.9m N-S. The width of the church at the W end was 9.2m due to the addition of the priests chamber, with wall thickness measuring 1.5m in order to carry the weight of the vault. Elsewhere the wall thickness measures 0.8m. According to O' Flanagan (1933, vol. 2, 80) the W end of the church was two storeys high with a stairs connecting both floors in the NW corner with main entrance in the W gable. Two pieces of sculptured stone were taken from this church and used in the building of Cadamstown church in the 19th-century, both are Romanesque in date. One of them is a carved head (OF037-013001-) which acted as a corbel while the second piece is a Hiberno-Romanesque hood moulding terminal (OF037-013003-) similar to the ones found in Clonmacnoise. An Early Christian cross-slab (OF037-013002-) also from Letter was found incorporated into the W gable of Cadamstown church during recent restoration. Another Romanesque stone fragment possibly from Letter was recently discovered on top of a gate pillar at Cadamstown House. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011