St. Gobnets Church

On N side of island overlooking the shoreline to N. This Nat. Mon. is a conserved E. Chr. church (E-W; L 3.93m, Wth 2.73m) known locally as Cill Ghobnait. There is a trabeate doorway in W gable and a round-headed window in E gable. A cross-inscribed stone (GA120-002012-) is visible above the arch of the window. Within the interior, below the window, is an altar with a cross-inscribed slab (GA120-002006-). The letters ST and G on it presumably mean Saint Gobnet. Two bullauns lie to W (GA120-002004-) and SSE (GA120-002005-) of the church. Two plain, rectangular, drystone leachta (GA120-002007-, GA120-002008-) abut its S wall and a third leacht (GA120-002009-) stands 15m to SE in the graveyard (GA120-002002-). Two separate lengths of stony banks extend to NW and S of the church. A clochan (GA120-002003-) c. 25m to the WSW is also associated. The curving graveyard wall, which encloses all these features, may follow the line of an early ecclesiastical enclosure (GA120-002011-). (O'Flanagan 1927a, Vol. 3, 431-3; Mason 1938, 197-8; Westropp 1895, 272) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Updated by: Olive Alcock Date of revised upload: 21 January 2016 This monument was taken into Ownership under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 - National Monument 41.

St. Gobnet's Church on Inis Oírr is an early Christian church dating to the 7th or 8th century, dedicated to St. Gobnet, a 6th-century Irish saint. The small, conserved church, with a trabeate doorway and round-headed window, reflects early monastic architecture and is significant as a National Monument illustrating early Christian settlement in the Aran Islands.