St Johns Church

On top of a low rise of ground in gently undulating countryside with a holy well (TS046-049----) c. 220m to the E. Listed as Knights Templars foundation established before 1200 and granted to the Knights Hospitallers after 1314 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 329, 335). According to the OS Letters there was a local tradition that a monastery dedicated to St. John was built on the site, the last fragments of which were levelled by the parish minister around 1800 (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 102).There are no surface remains of a church earlier than the existing 19th-century C of I church which is located in the W end of the graveyard. An earlier church is marked on the 1st (1840) ed. OS 6-inch map further to the E of C of I church in the E end of the graveyard, near the boundary wall of the surviving graveyard. Several graves are now located in this area. There is a 17th-century O'Dwyer memorial plaque (TS046-048005-) in the N wall of the porch of the C of I church. A sheela-na-gig (TS046-048003-) was found in the western part of graveyard during a SES graveyard clean-up scheme in 1989. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011