Church (in Ruins), Grave yd. — Lorrha

In the Annals of Innisfallen under the year AD 1037 it is recorded that 'Cu Chaille, son of Cennetaig, King of Musgraige, with his son was slain in front of the stone church at Lorrha after he had been taken from the altar. The Royal Visitation of 1615 described the building as 'chancell up church down' (Murphy 1914, 221). The church consists of a rectangular building (TN004-010008-) with projecting antae at both ends constructed with roughly coursed cyclopean masonry. The W end of the church was converted into a two-storey priest's residence by the insertion of a barrel-vaulted ground floor. This is possibly an eleventh-century church or earlier as referred to in the Annals of Innisfallen with a late twelfth/early thirteenth-century doorway. Further work was carried out in the 15th/16th century when the priest's residence and later doorway were inserted. Church located in the E quadrant of a large sub-rectangular graveyard which contains two high crosses (TN004-010009-/010-) in the centre and in the NW quadrants respectively. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 22 September 2008