Church (in Ruins) — Tumna

The church was dedicated to and probably founded by St Eidin or Éadaoin, a holy woman whose genealogy connects her through her father, Lighean, to the Uí Briúin of Connaught, and her feast occurs on July 5th (Ó Riain 2011, 279). Nothing else is known of her life, but the death of the priest Mulkieran O'Lenaghan, described as ‘a noble priest of Tuam-mna’, is recorded in 1249 while he was travelling to Ardcarne (AFM vol. 3, 333). The parish church of Tumna is listed as Thuanna in the ecclesiastical taxation of Elphin in 1306 (Cal. doc. Ire. vol. 5, 224). It is situated at the bottom of the N-facing slope of a drumlin c. 80m from the S bank of the Boyle River linking Lough Eidin to the River Shannon, which is c. 600m to the E. A rectangular graveyard (RO007-087002-) (dims 35m E-W; 22.5m N-S) is defined by masonry walls and contains a church (RO007-084001-) at W, a smaller church to the S (RO007-084005-) which may be post-medieval, and a saints grave or shrine (RO007-084004-), but there is now no visible evidence of a surrounding ecclesiastical enclosure (RO007-087003-) mentioned by Wakeman (1887-8, 107). However, a LiDAR survey dataset commissioned by Leitrim County Council and the National Roads Authority in 2012 and interpreted by Susan Curran as part of an M.A. thesis with University College Dublin confirms the existence of this enclosure (dims c. 130m E-W; c. 100m N-S) centred on the graveyard. Further magnetic gradiometry and earth resistance surveys concentrating within the ecclesiastical enclosure but extending outside it to the S confirmed its perimeter S-SW. The surveys also recorded a subrectangular area enclosing the graveyard but defined by stony features to the W and N, which might indicate the original extent of that feature (dims c. 40m NE-SW; c. 40m NW-SE). Numerous plots (dims c. 50m x c. 20m) defined by stony linear features were noted in the area N and NE of the graveyard, and these correspond closely to boundaries visible on the LiDAR images. The plots are confined to the area within the ecclesiastical enclosure but the area S of the graveyard is rather barren and may have suffered greater agricultural disturbance. In addition two parallel lines of high resistance features, indicating stone features placed c. 7-14m apart (L c. 40m) extend NE from a well that is marked on the 1914 edition of the OS 6-inch map (Curran 2015, 8-11). The larger church is a rectangular structure (int. dims c. 13.5m E-W; 6.96m N-S) whose walls (T 0.95m; max. H 3m) survive at E but are obscured by a cairn of rubble at W, the only feature being an aumbry (Wth 0.63m; H 0.34m; D 0.32m) towards the E end of the S wall. The smaller church is a rectangular structure (int. dims 4m E-W; 2.75m N-S) whose walls (T 0.55m) are almost complete with destroyed rectangular windows at the E end of the S wall and in the E wall. The destroyed doorway (Wth 1.13m) is at the W end of the S wall and there is an aumbry (Wth 0.4m; H 0.45m; D 0.24m) at the E end of the N wall. A stone altar (L 1.26m; Wth 0.75m; H 0.7m) is against the inner face of the E wall. The saint's tomb is a low altar-like rectangular structure (dims 1.5m N-S; 0.7m E-W) defined by upright limestone side-stones surmounted by a large flat slab. Local tradition regards this feature as the tomb of St. Eiden, but it has been mistaken for a megalithic tomb (Borlase 1897, vol. 1, 197). (D'Alton 1845, 117; Wakeman 1887-8, 107-11) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revised upload: 8 June 2018