St. Fiachras Church (in ruins)

Approximately 130m W of the River Nore, within a N-S band of woodland, which expands at the S end to accommodate the church and graveyard (KK020-050002-) of St Fiachra. St Fiachra's Well (KK020-050004-) is located c. 70m to the SE. Indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map as a small building within an unenclosed graveyard with 'St. Fiachra's Effigy' (KK020-05003-) indicated with a dot immediately S of the church. On the 1900 revision a cross marks 'St. Fiachra's Church (Site of)', however, this appears to be in the wrong location as a small pond is shown at that position on the 1st ed. map. The church is described in the OS Letters (1839) as, 'the foundation of a small edifice, sixteen feet [c. 4.8m] by nine [c. 2.7m], door in the south side near the west end. One stone of the doorway remains on the right as you go in, three feet [c. 0.9m] high, fourteen inches [0.36m] thick, with a reveal inside two inches [0.05m] deep' (O'Flanagan ed. 1930, vol. 1, 279 (94)). Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 220) states that this building, which he interprets as a hermit's cell, was removed in 1869 to make way for the Kenny Purcell monument which now occupies its site. He also mentions that a local resident described the building as being, 'about 8 ft. [c. 2.4m] long and 3 [c. 0.9m] or 4 ft. [c. 1.2m] wide, internally, the walls built of rough stones and about 4 ft. [c. 1.2m] high, and preserving no traces of the roof' (ibid.). Approximately 280m W of this graveyard, there is an enclosure (KK019-049002-) within the grounds of Kilfera House with an entrance which appears to be a reconstructed doorway (KK019-049002-). This round-headed doorway with imposts, in an early 12th-century style, may have been taken from St Fiachra’s church. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 9 December 2020