Site of St. Stephens Chapel — Morrissysland

Depicted faintly as a rectangular feature (dims. c. 20m E-W; c. 6m N-S) described as the site of St. Stephen’s Chapel on the 1839 and 1940 eds. of the OS 6-inch map, and situated at the crest of an E-facing slope. Hore (1900-11, vol. 1, 46) regards it as the hermitage of St. Abban, but this is unsupported. One length of wall oriented N S (L 5.8m; T 0.6m; H 0.5m) is all that remains, but a built-up grave-enclosure (ext. dims. 4.65m E-W 3.8m N-S) 14m to the W may also have been part of the church. There are two bullaun stones at this enclosure. A granite bullaun stone (dims. 0.7m x 0.6m; H 0.3m) with a single basin (diam. 0.33-0.35m; D 0.2m) is built into the top of the grave-enclosure wall, and another granite bullaun stone (dims. 0.61m x 0.44m; H 0.25m) with a single basin (diam. 33m; D 0.16m) is nearby. On the 1839 ed. of the map the church is within a subrectangular graveyard (dims. c. 105m E-W; 65-85m N-S), which itself is within a subcircular ecclesiastical enclosure (diam. c. 160m E-W; c. 140m N-S) defined by stone walls and hedges, but burial has now expanded to fill the ecclesiastical enclosure and there is no evidence of the old graveyard boundary. The site of St. Stephen’s Well is inside the perimeter of the enclosure at SE. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 2 August, 2012