Site of R.C. Chapel — Labaun

The remains of an unclassified castle site (WM030-038----) possibly Ballyloughloe Castle are located 270m to the N and an Anglo-Norman motte and bailey castle (WM030-047----) is located 80m to the E. A lake known as Lough Luatha from which Ballyloughloe is derived is located immediately N of the castle site (WM030-048----). The 1302-06 ecclesiastical taxation of the diocese of Clonmacnoise records that the ‘Rector de Loghloch [Ballyloughloe]’ owed 20s. in this year (Cal. doc. Ire., 216). The medieval church of Ballyloughloe was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. In 1405 the annals recorded that ‘Baile Locha Luatha [Ballyloughloe] was burned by Ó Maoil Sheachlainn , i.e. Cormac Óg son of Cormac Ballach, and the church was burned too, and inumerable valuables were destroyed, including the image of the Trinity’ (Ó hInnse 1947, 177). In 1426 there is a reference to the parish church of the Trinity of Lochluacha (Ballyloughloe) (Costello 1909, 143). In 1451 a papal letter was sent ‘To the prior of St. Mary's, Dermach [Durrow] [in the diocese of Meath]. Mandate, as below. Lately the present pope, at the petition of Fergallus Yglasderag, priest, of the diocese of Clonmacnoise (Cluanen.)—containing that John bishop of Clonmacnoise (seeing that the parish of the parish church, of the patronage of laymen, of Lochluacha [Ballyloughloe] in the said diocese, was so large that the people thereof could not, on account of the excessive distance and the dangers of the roads, conveniently and safely go to the said church for divine offices; and that the said church, which has two other daughter churches, had abundant means for the maintenance of several perpetual vicarages) divided, with consent of the dean and chapter of Clonmacnoise, the said church into three perpetual vicarages, namely, the said mother church of Lochluacha [Ballyloughloe], a second of Athluain [Athlone WM029-042021-], and a third of Kyllomyleon [Kilcleagh WM036-009----], and deprived and removed Thady Magruayrg and Maurice Macedagayn, priests, of the dioceses of Meath and Clonmacnoise, who had simoniacally divided the said vicarage between them—ordered certain judges, if they found the said division lawful, to confirm it by papal authority, and in that event to collate and assign, of the said vicarages, to which no vicars had yet been instituted, that of Lochluacha [Ballyloughloe] to the above Fergal’ (Cal. papal letters. vol. 10, 541). The church site and graveyard (WM030-045----) were described in 1983 as following: ‘The remains of a roughly rectangular graveyard, enclosed by a stone wall. The entire interior of the graveyard is very badly overgrown with undergrowth and vegetation, nettles etc. Part of the remains of a collapsed rectangular church [Holy Trinity C of I church] can be made out, though it is badly obscured by vegetation cover. The remains consist of the foundations of the walls. The interior is filled with collapsed rubble. The building measures c. 18m E-W x c. 6m N-S. There appears to be a small annexe extending to the W off the W wall of the church. This annexe measures 4m E-W x 3m N-S' (SMR File). The OS fair plan map marks the 'site of old chapel' inside the graveyard. A short section (L. 5.1m; H 1.4m; T 0.9m) of the N wall of the medieval church of Ballyloughloe can be seen standing 9m to the S of the S wall of the post-medieval remains of Holy Trinity Church C of I Church. The outline of the levelled remains of the surviving church walls can be traced as a low rise of ground amongst the upstanding memorials. The medieval church site stands roughly on high ground in the centre of the graveyard. An Early Christian cross-slab (WM030-046---) with Goidelic inscription has been built into S face of this wall. This wall represents the remains of the R.C. Chapel depicted on the 1840 ed. OS 6-inch map which appears to be the remains of a medieval church. A limestone chamfered section of the arch belonging to a pointed medieval doorway can be seen lying on the ground beside the S face of the N wall. A second chamfered stone possibly part of the medieval doorway arch can be seen lying on the surface of the graveyard to the NE of the upstanding section of N wall of medieval church. A medieval church is depicted and annotated as in ‘ruins’ at this location on the 1656 Down Survey map of Ballyloughloe Parish (NLI p.7384). On this map the church is depicted standing inside the small townland of ‘Gleabe’ which measured 30 acres in size, the northern part of the medieval townland of Glebe is today part of the present townland of Labaun. The terrier of the 1656 Down Survey of Ballyloughloe Parish recorded that in the townlands of Glen and Tullaghanshanlin are the ‘walls of two churches’ (WM030-037----; WM030-045001-) (NLI p.7384). In the early 19th century O’Donovan recorded in the Ordnance Survey memoranda that near the ‘Protestant church (are the) ruins of a small chapel said to have been built by the Magawleys chiefs of Calree. An old woman, now 93 yrs. remembers to have seen it roofed and slated with oak shingles’ (SMR File). This small chapel appears to be the same building represented by the upstanding section of wall standing in the centre of the graveyard located 9m to the S of the post-medieval ruins of the Holy Trinity C of I church. A late 17th or early 18th century keystone of the doorway arch of the mortuary chapel decorated with an I H S monogram is located lying on the surface of the graveyard 3 metres to the N of the upstadning section of church wall. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 6 March 2014