St. Bridgets Nunnery — Cloonown

On a level, low-lying landscape but it was probably on an island in bog at one time. It is possibly an early church site dedicated to St Bridget, according to J. O'Donovan writing in the 1830s (O'Flanagan 1931, vol. 1, 28) and may have been a chapel-of-ease to St. Peter’s Athlone. Cluain Emhain is listed in a 15th century document (O'Donovan 1843, 79). Described as St Bridget's Nunnery and depicted as a small building (dims c. 10m E-W; c. 5m N-S) in the graveyard (RO055-003004-) attached to the Roman Catholic church on the 1837 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. The cluster of houses around the church is surrounded by a circular field system suggesting an oval ecclesiastical enclosure (RO055-003005-) (dims c. 200m E-W; c. 160m N-S) on the 1837 and 1915 eds of the OS 6-inch map, which survives as stone walls and hedgerows SE-SW. A modern cross commemorates the graveyard (dims c. 35m E-W; c. 20m N-S) defined by masonry walls, which is preserved as a green just E of the old Roman Catholic church, but there is no evidence of a structure within it. A fragment of a cross-slab (RO055-003003-) (dims 0.3m x 0.15m) was found in a wall of the old church and is now preserved in the entrance porch of the new church (Fanning and O hEailidhe 1980, 13; Herity et al. 1997, 116). Archaeological testing (00E0780; 07E0869) within the possible ecclesiastical enclosure failed to produce any related archaeological material (Crumlish 2002; Gleeson 2010), but testing (11E0360) c. 50m outside the enclosure to the NW produced evidence of metal-working (RO055-003006-) (Quinn 2011). St Bridget's Well (RO055-004----) is c. 200m to the NE. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 15 February 2011