Chapel (in Ruins) — Tristernagh

In centre of graveyard (WM011-051001-). The church was described in 1826 as following; ‘Near the entrance to the demesne of Tristernagh, stands the Chapel of Templecross, now in ruins. This building, in the time of the historian of Westmeath, was in good repair, and divine service was then performed within its walls. In this chapel is the sepulchral vault of the Piers family’ (WM011-051003-) (Brewer 1826, 240). This chapel was described by Sir Henry Piers in 1682 as following; ‘a small but well-built chapel, now in good repair, wherein hangeth one small bell, which had the good fortune to the escape the fury and rapine of the late war. The church is called Templecross. In this chapel, in the late Bishop of Meath’s days, were ordained at one time eleven or more deacons, and at another time six or seven. This place supplieth the defect of our mother church at Kilbixy, now out of repair’ (Vallancey 1786, 73; Woods 1907, 307). This church was modified in the late 16th or early 17th century by Sir Henry Piers. The inscription on his armorial plaque states that it was Henry 'who by a holy instinct erected this tomb after he had renovated the sacred edifice and constructed the adjoining road (WM011-049---)' (ibid.). Present remains consist of an ivy-clad single cell church (ext. dims. 12.9m E-W; 6.65m N-S) with a residential priests tower at W end. The first story of the residential tower is carried on a barrel-vaulted arch springing over the W end of the ground floor of the church. Unusually the vault is carried on a cut stone relieving arch on the E wall of the tower which creates an open undercroft space inside the ground floor of the church. There is good evidence for wicker centring on the underside of the vault as well as traces of plaster finish over the wicker centring. The absence of the E wall of the residential tower creates an undivided space for the ground floor of the church. The walls of the church stand to full height on all sides and are built with coursed rubble with well dressed quoins. The residential tower is wider than the main body of the church with the church doorway located in the S wall of the tower. The tower is built with coursed rubble with long and short alternating roughly hammer dressed quoins. The church is entered through a pointed stone doorway (Wth 1m; H 2m) consisting of rough hammer-dressed jamb stones with concave chamfer located at W end of S wall. The doorway stands inside a flat headed embrasure. Directly opposite this entrance in the N wall of the church there is a second cut stone pointed doorway (H 1m). The church was lit by two windows in the N and S walls with a window in the centre of the E wall. The E window consists of an ivy covered twin light ogee-headed opening. The window has punch dressed limestone jambs with concave chamfer and external hood moulding. A glazing groove is visible running up along the middle of the window jambs with a beam hole either side of the window embrasure to accommodate a wooden drawbar to secure the window shutters. A broken out window was located in the centre of the N wall of the church. A second single light flat-headed cut stone limestone window with external hood moulding now covered in ivy is located off centre to E in N wall of church. Directly beneath this window on the internal face there is an ogee-headed wall cupboard or aumbry (dims. H 0.85m x Wth 0.55m x D 0.5m) made from rough hammer dressed stones similar to the S doorway. An ivy-clad flat-headed window with hood moulding opposite the N window can be seen off centre to E in S wall. Two diamond-shaped bar holes are present on the head and sill of the N and S windows. Beneath the S window on the internal face of this wall are the remains of a piscina (dims. H 0.8m x Wth 0.65m x D 0.4m) with cut stone pointed arch. The rough hammer dressed chamfered jambs of the piscina have a pyramidal shaped chamfer stop. The drainage channel for water run off is clearly visible in the back wall of the piscina. The head of this arch appears to cut across the base of the window embrasure located directly above it. A second window has been partially blocked up by a 17th century armorial plaque (WM011-051003-) and chest tomb (WM011-051004-) which is located off centre to W in S wall. Immediately W of this chest tomb are the remains of a flat-headed aumbry or wall cupboard. A large segmental relieving arch which supports the mural stairs in the W wall recess is located in NW angle of W wall. Inside this recess there are the possible remains of a blocked up aumbry in N wall. A small wall cupboard or aumbry is located in S wall of this recess. A pointed cut stone doorway (H 1.65m; Wth 0.75m) located off centre to S in W wall of church leads to a mural stairs which gives access to first floor of residential tower (ext. dims. 5.2m E-W; 7.3m N-S; wall T 1.3m). Beam holes on the inside of the doorway show evidence for internal drawbar. Directly inside the doorway there is an aumbry (H 0.85m; D 0.65m; Wth 0.65m) or wall cupboard in the W wall. The narrow mural stairs rises steeply to first floor level where it turns into a spiral stairs to give access to a destroyed second floor or wall walk level. The mural stairs is roofed with flat overlapping slabs creating a corbelled roof. The poorly preserved first floor of the tower is now covered in vegetation and ivy making detailed examination impossible. Most of the N wall has collapsed at first floor level. A large broken out opening in the centre of the E wall of the tower gave access to a loft or roof space over the W end of the church. An earlier site report described the line of the church roof which was visible in the E wall of the tower at first floor level. This feature is no longer visible as this wall is now covered in ivy. An earlier site description from 1981 also recorded the presence of a broken out opening which may have been a window located in the centre of the S wall. A long narrow ogee-headed limestone window was located off centre to the S in the W wall of the tower. The jambs of this window possessed glazing grooves and the opening was protected by an external hood moulding. This window is no longer visible as the wall is covered with ivy. A small poorly preserved window with hood moulding above was located off centre to E in S wall. The earlier site report described the presence of a ruinous fireplace in the centre of the W wall with chimney shaft rising from the top of the fireplace which projects into the room, the fireplace and chimney structure are possibly a later inserted feature. This fireplace is now covered in vegetation making examination impossible. The architectural evidence suggests that this tower was renovated when the fireplace and chimney stack were inserted into the W end of the church by Sir Henry Piers (SMR File 17/06/1981). Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 13 July 2015