What is recorded here

Carrickatemple, the rock of the church, holds no church at all. Its limestone walls enclose a narrow rectangle above a small stream, saving bodies from 1800 onward while leaning into the old claim that the ground itself is ancient. The name promises divine architecture but delivers only dead people and water, forcing every visitor to invent the missing temple or admit the landscape refused the story.

Located on a NE-SW-facing spur, overlooking a small E-W stream which enters a bay at the E end of Lough Gill c. 270m to the W. This is a subrectangular area (dims 68m E-W; 12-18m N-S) defined by mortared limestone walls (H 1-1.5m). It contains headstones of the 19th and 20th centuries, but has been described as 'ancient' (Lewis 1837, vol. 1, 518). Despite the name – Carrickatemple: the rock of the church – associated with it there are no known ecclesiastical connections, and it is not listed as amongst a 17th century list of churches in north Leitrim (Mooney 1946a). The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of revised upload: 14 April, 2016

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