What is recorded here

St Catherine's Friary Graveyard holds church ruins that MacSwiny Bannagh may have founded for Franciscans, then Protestant worship from 1615, then abandonment when St. John's opened in 1829. Its walls record at least three building periods, including a 15th-century body and a 16th-century transept, while its graveyard setting suggests burial continued long after the friary lost its name. The place is a layered Killybegs threshold: religious, political and domestic lives kept being rewritten across the same stones.

St. Catherine's Church (DG097-015002-): The ruins of this church may possibly be the remains of St. Catherine's friary, founded by MacSwiny Bannagh for the Franciscan Third Order Regular (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 272). They are assuredly those which were converted for protestant worship after the establishment of the Borough of Killybegs in 1615 (Conaghan [1974], 27). The parish church of Killybegs was described in 1622 as 'newly re-edified and well repaired' (Royal Commission, 220). The church would undoubtedly have been abandoned during the troubled times of the Confederacy and the friars from Donegal may have settled here (Mooney 1952, 20-1). The Church was repaired c. 1654-6 (Simmington 1937, 79) and continued in use throughout the 18th century (Leslie 1940, 92; Taylor and Skinner 1778, 49). It was abandoned when the new church, St. John's, was built in 1829 (Lewis II, 1837, 158; Fagan Bk 19, 4-5). The church is located inside a graveyard (DG097-015005-). The remains of the Church, 15.6m by 5.2m internally, and N transept, 6.6m by 5.15m internally, testify to at least three major building periods. The main body of the church is probably 15th century and the transept a 16th century addition; the S arched transept gable, the window alterations and the W porch are probably works of the 17th/18th centuries. It is possible that some of the windows in the N and S walls are secondary insertions; the inner wall-faces are covered in plaster. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

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