Ballyclerahan Church (in ruins) — Ballyclerahan

On raised ground on summit of a hill in undulating pasture. The church is roughly centrally placed within a graveyard (TS076-016004-). The church (overall dims. 18.75m N-S; 9.3m E-W; wall T 1m) is built of rubble limestone, randomly coursed. It is aligned E-W, only the W gable stands, with a short portion of the S wall (Wth 3.6m) and E gable (Wth 1.9m; H c. 2.1m). The E gable is discernible as a low raised, grass-covered mound. The W gable (H c. 4-5m) is heavily overgrown with ivy, as are all remaining portions of wall. According to the OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 140-41) the church 'had two apartments, nave and choir, the length of both which was eighty two feet [25m], the former measuring fifty eight feet [17.6m] by twenty three feet [7m] and the latter twenty four feet [7.3m] by nineteen feet [5.8m]. The thickness of the walls was about three feet [0.9m] and the height of the side walls about ten feet [3m]. The ruins consist of the following parts of the walls of this building, namely, the east gable of the choir, on which there is a window, large, and having a segment arch, all masonwork inside. It is pointed outside and constructed of chiselled limestone, being five feet four inches [1.6m]from the ground, one foot [0.3m] in breadth and five feet [1.5m] in height. Only a small portion of the middle gable, four paces = twelve feet [3.6m] in length remains with a bit of the south sidewall attached to it, the thickness of which has been included in the measurement here given, namely twelve feet. The bit extends to west but one foot beyond the bare surface of the above portion of the gable. The stones have been taken out of the surface of this portion of the gable on the west side from within a foot and a half [0.45m] of the south wall. Its height is now now much more than the height of the sidewall. Of the south side wall of the nave, thirteen feet [4m] in length remain within nearly twenty four feet [7.3m] of the east gable. It is about eight feet [2.4m] in highest part from the present surface of the ground and about three feet [0.9m] in thickness. A portion of the same wall, four feet eight inches [1.4m] in length and retaining the original height, about ten feet [3m], remains, attached to the west gable. This gable remains entire and has a little clump of north wall projecting from it at some distance from the ground. All the rest of the walls have been razed to the ground. This Church was dedicated to St. Michael, whose day, 29th of September is still kept a holiday in the Parish. There is here still a burial ground, not enclosed, with a stone wall'. The area of the interior of the church is occupied by rows of 19th-century headstones. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011