Church, Ardmayle Church in Ruins, Grave Yard — Ardmayle

On level ground on a W-facing slope in undulating terrain. Of the medieval church the W tower (dims. 7.27m N-S excluding base-batter; 5.93m E-W excluding base-batter) survives, attached to the W end of a C of I church (L 16.22m x Wth 8.17m) built in 1815 (Crotty 2003, 114). According to the OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 3, 86) 'A little eastward of the new Church there remain about two feet [0.6m] in height of the east, north, and south walls of an old building twenty seven and a half feet [c. 8.4m] in breadth; its length cannot be determined as the west wall has entirely disappeared, as have also the west end of the north and south walls. There is a breach or chasm, about the middle of the portion of the south wall remaining, where the doorway seems to have been placed. These walls, which are about three and a half feet [1m] in thickness, might be judged to be those of the old Church, but for their great distance from the tower'. Of this building, which is possibly the chancel of the medieval church, the E wall survives as a low, grass-covered wall (L 15.4m; Wth crest 0.9; Wth at base 1.55m; H above int. 0.7m; H above ext. 0.5m) which runs E-W from the N side of the E wall of the later church. Opposite, and 8.4m S of, this grass-covered wall, and roughly aligned with the S wall of the later church, there is a grass-covered mound which may be a burial or remnants of a wall (Wth crest 0.7m; Wth at base 1.8m; H 0.2-0.5m). The tower is constructed of limestone rubble, roughly coursed with a base-batter (H 1.55m; Wth 0.5m). There is a buttress at the E end of the N wall of the tower with a slight base-batter and a similar one at the E end of the S wall of the tower. Two hood-mouldings with ivy-leaf terminals have been incorporated into the upper portion of the S buttress. At ground level in the N face, a 19th-century doorway carved in a medieval style has been inserted. The barrel-vaulted ground floor (int. dims. 4.38m N-S; 4.43m E-W) is lit by a loop in the S wall within a deep-splayed embrasure. A large flat-headed window has been inserted into the W face. There are two unusual vent holes (D 1.1m; H 0.18m; Wth 0.15-0.2m) at an angle in the wall thickness at ground-floor level (H c. 1.1m above internal floor level) which exit externally just above the base-batter, one at the S end of the W wall and the other towards the E end of the S wall. The first floor is accessed via an inserted wooden stairs in the SW angle. It is lit by flat-headed single-light windows in the N, S and W walls. A wooden stairs, rising along the W wall, gives access to the second floor which has a modern wooden floor supported on offsets on the N and S walls. There is only one window at second-floor level, an ogee-headed single-light in the S wall. There is an inserted chimney flue in the N wall along the E side which continues from first-floor level. The modern floor at third-floor level appears to be resting on an inserted offset in the E and W walls. The offset has a very crude stone-cladded appearance and the inserted floor is at a higher level than the original as it cuts across the existing windows. The third floor is lit by seven windows, two in the N, E and W walls and one in the S wall. All the windows at this level are ogee-headed, some plain, some with hollow spandrels and others with decorated spandrels. One of the windows in the N wall is a two-light window. Both internally and externally the windows and embrasures show evidence of reconstruction. The tower is surmounted by a parapet which was rebuilt in the 19th century with crow-stepped gables and a turret on the NE angle. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011