Thomastown Church (in ruins)

In undulating pasture with land rising to the S, the church is on relatively level ground which falls beyond the church to the NW. The large undivided church (dims. 20.03m E-W; 6.58m N-S), located along the N boundary of a rectangular graveyard (TS068-001003-), is constructed of roughly cut blocks of limestone, roughly coursed. Well-preserved with high side walls (T 0.94m) and gables, it is lit by a double-light ogee-headed window in the E gable, a single-light ogee-headed window at the E end of the S wall, a flat-headed single-light window at the W end of the S wall and a single-light window in the W gable obscured by ivy. There are no windows in the N wall. At the E end of the S wall there is a piscina, the basin of which is missing. A mid-19th century memorial erected by the famous Temperance priest Fr. Theobald Mathew, in the style of a Gothic reredos, has been built up against the internal face of the E gable, completely blocking the E window, and an iron railing sections off the E end of the church for the Mathew family plot. There are internal beam holes at the W end of the church which appear to have been supports for a gallery. The church was entered through a pointed doorway at the W end of the S wall, the surrounds of which are tooled with drafted margins and chamfered externally. The church is quite heavily overgrown with ivy. A 19th-century mausoleum to the Earl of Llandaff, Francis Mathew, has been built up against the external E gable of the church. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011