Shankill Church (in ruins)

On a level area of a very gentle S-facing slope, in rough pasture and mixed woodland, with a stream (running c. ENE-WSW) located c. 55m to S. The monument is depicted and named as ‘Shankill Church (in ruins)’ on OS historic mapping. Westropp (1900-02, 149) refers to this site as ‘a graveyard and fragments of a church near Dangan Ivigen’. This is a rectangular area (11m E-W; 5m N-S) defined by the remains of a collapsed stone wall (int. H 0.7m; ext. H 1.0m; T c. 1.2m). The N wall (L 13m; T c. 1.2m; int. H 0.7m; ext. H 1.0m) is best preserved, although there is a lot of tumble internally and externally. The S wall has collapsed (L 6m; T 4.25m; int. H 0.45m; ext. H 0.5m) and there is a gap at the E and W ends. The E wall has been reduced to a scarp (Wth 0.75m; H 0.5m). The W wall does not survive and is likely to have been disturbed by the construction of a later field boundary (long-axis NW-SE) to the immediate W, which is of different construction. An intact portion of facing stones is evident on the internal elevation at the W end of the N wall. Some of the spalls from the core of the wall can be seen in situ at this point. The interior is generally level and clear having been grazed by livestock. A mound of stone is heaped up around the base of a tree c. 12m to N and other mounds are located in the adjoining field to E and may potentially contain archaeological and architectural fragments (Large 2010, 338). A graveyard (CL035-089002-) is adjoining to E and S. The following images have been uploaded: CL035-089001-_01.jpg From S. Elevation of intact wall interior, W-end of N-wall. _02 From E. Cross-sectional view of N-wall, including tumble. _03 From E. Cross-sectional view across interior of church. _04 From S. General view of monument (2m rod either side). Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 14 March 2018