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What is recorded here

Donaghmore church served Ratoath deanery from at least 1302 until Augustinian owners lost it in 1540, leaving behind a sunken grassy rectangle and faint earthen banks rather than proud stone. That absence is the point: a small worship place disappeared so completely that later visitors found only memory and ruin. The surviving graveyard, stream and slope keep the old address alive, inviting people to imagine candles, prayers and burial beside water instead of inventing grandeur the earth no longer supports.

Located on a gentle E-facing slope, with a small W-E stream that joins the Broadmeadow River c. 750m further E, c. 60m to the N. A church at Donaghmore in Ratoath deanery is listed in the ecclesiastical taxation (1302-06) of Pope Nicholas IV (Cal. doc. Ire., 5, 254). Both the manor and the rectory of Donamor were owned by the Augustinain abbey of St Thomas (DU018-020051-) at its suppression in 1540 (White 1943, 33, 36). Ussher (1622) describes the church and chancel as completely ruined (Erlington 1847-64, 1, lxx1). According to the Dopping (1682-05) and Royal (1693) visitations the church of St Patrick had the walls of the church and chancel still standing but it had been in disrepair since 1641. The graveyard as not enclosed and the parish had already been united with Ratoath (ME044-034003-) (Ellison 1971, 37). The parish church of Donaghmore is within a rectangular graveyard (dims c. 50m E-W; c. 40m N-S) defined by masonry walls with headstones dating largely from c. 1890 to the present. The church is evident as a grass-covered, slightly sunken area (int. dims 11.3m E-W; 5.8m N-S) located towards the NW angle of the graveyard. It is defined by slight earthen banks at N (Wth 3.1m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.7m), S (Wth 2.4m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.1m), and E (Wth 4.2m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 0.2m), but no dressed stone is evident in the graveyard. The Motte (ME045-007----) is c. 420m to the SW. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 8 April, 2015

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