Church (in Ruins) — Castlelost

In N quadrant of graveyard (WM033-031001-). Ivy-covered rectangular church (ext. dims. 20.8m E-W; 7.55m N-S; int. dims. 14.8m E-W; 6.3m N-S; wall T 0.9m) with two storey priests residence or vicarage at W end of church. The walls are covered in ivy and the interior of the church is covered with trees and bushes making detailed examination of the building impossible. The walls of the church where visible are built with large random rubble, most of the walls survive to full height except a section of the W end of the N wall where it joins onto the priest’s residence. At this junction the first floor section of the NE corner of the priest’s residence has also collapsed. The church was entered through a doorway now visible as a broken out gap located off centre to the W in the S wall. The original dressed stone medieval doorway was taken from this church and reused as the front door into Meedin R.C. church (WM033-040----) located 3km to the SW. A medieval twin light transom and mullioned window was also taken from this church and inserted into the N gable of Meedin R.C. church (WM033-040001-). A single light window can be seen in the centre of the N wall. A single light ogee headed window with glazing groove is located off centre to the E in the S wall. This window is set into a widely splayed segmental-arched embrasure with punch dressed jamb stones. There is good evidence of internal render on the S wall of the church and on the punch dressed jambs of the window embrasure. A second single light ogee-headed window now covered in ivy is located in the centre of the S wall. A small square-headed wall press (dims. H 0.3m x Wth 0.43m; D 0.42m) or aumbry is located at the E end of the S wall close to the SE corner of the church. The E window which is no longer in situ sits in a widely splayed embrasure that is now covered in ivy making detailed examination impossible. An earlier site report from 1977 described the E window as standing inside a round-headed embrasure with an arch of dressed stones, three of which are decorated with carvings in relief (SMR File). Two of the decorated stones were located on the N side of the window embrasure. One of these stones has the outline of a rectangle which is quartered by a central cross with a saltire cross in each of the four quadrants. The stone below it is decorated with a double ribbon interlace pattern with spear-shaped terminals. The third stone was located on the S side of the window was decorated with a carved head wearing a possible mitre of a bishop lying horizontally on the stone. This stone also contains the carving of a four-legged mythical animal with a human head claw-like feet and tail which curves underneath the body and runs between its legs and then returns up and above the body of the animal terminating in a fleur-de-lys pattern. These decorated stones are no longer visible due to the dense cover of ivy. The carvings are very similar to the carvings on the twin light window taken from this church and inserted into the N gable of Meedin R. C. church. The twin light transom and mullioned window (WM033-040001-) was probably the E window of the medieval church at Castlelost as there is no evidence today of an in situ E window. The ground floor (int. dims. 6.3m N-S; 3.25m E-W; wall T 1-1.2m) of the priests residence located at the W end of the church was entered from the body of the church through a round-headed doorway (Wth 0.96m) located in the centre of the E wall of the priests residence. The round-headed doorway is constructed with roughly shaped voussoirs with triangular shaped keystone in a similar fashion to doorway at Castlelost Castle (WM033-043----). A drawbar slot can be seen on the S side of the doorway embrasure. The ground floor of this residence was covered with a pointed stone vault (H 2.6-3m) with evidence of wicker centring on the underside of the vault. A single light square-headed window in the centre of the S wall provided light to the vaulted chamber. A section of the stone vault has collapsed above this window. There was no feature or window opening in the W or N walls of the residence at ground floor level. There are no visible signs of any access from the vaulted ground floor to the first floor except for the hole in the vault that appears to be recent collapse rather than an original opening for a wooden stairs. Access to the first floor appears to have been from an external stairs no longer visible in the NE angle of the church. The section of the church wall no longer survives. At first floor level there are the remains of a single light window in the N wall with large opening in the NE angle where an external stairs now collapsed gave access to the first floor. In the centre of the E wall are the ivy-covered remains of a single light window, and a single light square-headed window in the centre of the S wall. A broken out fireplace (Wth 1.2m; D 0.6m) is located off centre to the N in the W wall with a single light window (int. Wth 1m; ext. Wth 0.3m) to the S and square-headed wall press (dims. H 0.5mx Wth 0.5m x D 0.4m) in the SW angle. The medieval church of Castlelost was listed in the 1306 ecclesiastical taxation of the Diocese of Meath where it was valued at 5 marks per annum with a tenth value of ½ mark (Cal. doc. Ire., vol. 5, 258). In 1486, Maurice Tirrell [Tyrrell] of Fertullagh, lord of Castleofty [Castlelost], granted to Walter, abbot of St Mary's Abbey, Dublin the advowson of the parish church of Castlelofty [Castlelost] (Gilbert 1884, 18). Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 22 July 2013