Church (in Ruins) — Gallstown

Church and graveyard (WM033-072001-) located on the demesne lands of Gallstown House located 690m to the NNE. Described in 1980 as the ruins of a rectangular church (dims. 18.3m E-W; 8m N-S) running NE-SW. Only the SE and SW walls survive upstanding. Only the grass-covered wall footings of the other walls can be seen. There are two large broken out window opes in the SE wall. A tall square tower survives at the SW end of the church as depicted on the 1910 ed. OS 6-inch map. The tower is built onto the external face of the SW wall of the church and is covered in ivy making the structure impossible to examine. The tower probably the remains of a bell tower appears to be post-1700 in date while the church appears to be pre-1700, possibly dating from the 17th century. There is nothing visible in the upstanding fabric to suggest that this church is medieval in date. The church stands in the centre of a long narrow rectangular-shaped graveyard (WM033-072001-). According to the local famer who lives 'The Cottage' the belltower on the SW end of the church collapsed c. 2011. Today only a section of the ivy-covered SE wall (L c. 11.5m; H c. 3.7m) of the church survives upstanding, the tower and the gable wall of the church at the SW end have collapsed and a pile of rubble marks this end of the church. Lower courses of a short section of the NE gable wall survives (H c. 1m). The church was impossible to examine due to the dense cover of vegetation and trees growing all over the site of the church ruins. A single broken out window (Wth 1.75m) is visible in the centre of the upstanding section of the SE wall. The cut stone voussoirs and other cut stones visible in the mound of rubble at the SW end of the church belonging to the collapsed belltower display stone dressing of 19th century date. This belltower was probably added on to the SW end of the church in the 19th century. On the 1910 ed. OS 6-inch map the church is depicted as a long rectangular building aligned SW-NE with square shaped belltower at SW end. On this map all of the walls of the church are shown upstanding except for the NW wall and the N end of the NE gable which are not depicted. On the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map the church building with belltower is depicted as a completely intact upstanding structure. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 25 July 2013