Templemoyle (in Ruins)

Situated on a rise between hills at the SE angle of a bay (dims c. 200m N-S; c. 200m E-W) that is at the N end of Lough Egish. This is probably a thirteenth century parochial church, sometimes known as Templemoyle, although no historical references to it are known with certainty. It may have been a chapel-of-ease to Aughnamullen parish church (MO023-011001-), which is at the W end of a very large parish. This church is marked on Jobson’s Map of Ulster of 1590 where it is described as Temple Egas (McKenna 1920, 355). The church is a plain rectangular structure (ext. dims 20.1m E-W; 8.35m N-S), which survives almost complete, apart from the removal of all dressed stone and some gaps in the N and S walls. It had a tall E window, which was probably a single lancet, and there was another tall window towards the E end of the S wall. The doorway towards the W end of the S wall does not survive but the voids for two corbels to support a gallery at the W end are evident as is a destroyed window placed high in the W gable. A large beam-hole in the inner face of the S wall 6.6m from the SE angle is the location of a rood-screen that would divide the church in the ratio of 2:1, but the inner face of the wall on the N side is destroyed. The church is in the northern part of an oval graveyard (max. dims c. 95m NW-SE; c. 50m NE-SW) defined by an earthen bank or scarps with a hedge and by an ENE-WSW stone wall (L c. 35m) at N that probably truncated the graveyard slightly. See the attached images _1 from E; _2 from N The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 30 November 2016