churches historical ireland

The church and Round Tower stand on the site of an Early Christian monastery founded by St. Tola who died between 733 and 737. Where the church stands there was a 12th century Romanesque nave-and-chancel church with a plain chancel arch and a wonderfully decorated west doorway above which was an ornamental lancet window. Three narrow lancet windows were inserted in the east gable early in the 13th century.

Some considerable time later the church must have fallen into decay. Possibly...

Meaning "the burial place of kings" from the Irish "Riogfheart", for centuries this church was the burial place of the Chiefs of the O'Toole Clan. While some still hold to the original view that it may date to the sixth century, more recent expert opinion suggest it to be of eleventh century origin. Standing at the eastern end can be found two ancient crosses standing on square bases....

Clonfeacle parish church (1618) located outside the priory gates, is one of the oldest churches in regular use in the province. Basically a hall (the belfry tower was added in 1892), the church has a seventeenth century font and bell and a monument to Captain James Hamilton. Hamilton was one of 3000 Scots killed at the battle of Benburb in 1646. Led by Major General Robert Monroe, the Scots were routed in a disastrous encounter with Owen Roe O'Neill, charismatic nephew of the great Hugh O'Neill....

Croagh Patrick is located about 8km from Westport on the Louisburgh Road. Croagh Patrick is a sacred and beautiful hill. From most points of view, it rises from the sea on the southern shore of Clew Bay as a perfect cone to the height of 764 metres (2,510 feet). There are larger and loftier masses of mountain in Ireland, but none so striking from its isolation....

The oldest surviving artefacts of the Celtic church are the cross-pillars and slabs found at a number of monastic sites throughout the country. They represent the first tentative steps in the development of Irish ecclesiastical art. Unlike the alter ringed crosses which evolved from them, the earliest Christian crosses were simply inscribed on suitable natural stones with no attempt at shaping. Sometimes in situ pagan standing stones were adopted for the purpose.

The Reask cross-pill...

Drumsna's Catholic Church (1845) is situated in the village. A memorial just beyond the church is dedicated to Robert Strawbridge who was born in Drumsna in 1732. He founded the Methodist Church in the USA and died in Baltimore, Maryland in 1781. A small cemetery close by is the burial place of Surgeon Thomas Parke, who accompanied Henry Morton Stanley on his celebrated expedition to the African Congo.

Anthony Trollope, the English novelist lived here for a time when he worked with...

The site of an old monastery founded allegedly by St. Comdhan or Comghan towards the end of the 5th century. The last historical reference to the monastery is in 1082. An oratory here was destroyed in 1041 and the monastery was burned in 1077. The present church was built in the 12th century, and has one of the finest Romanesque doorways in the country. The doorway has four orders, with capitals bearing heads with intertwined hair, an arch with foliage and animal motifs, the whole being topped b...

Better known as Kilnamanagh (the church of the monks) it was founded in the 13th century by the Premonstratensians of White Canons.

It was one of only 11 houses in Ireland. The buildings have recently been conserved and the headstones of one of the founders was discovered on the site....

The monastery here was founded by St. Nassan. It was raided by Vikings several times throughout the centuries and then destroyed by Donal McLoughlin. Of the six churches that are said to have been built here only two remain. The first one you will come to, as it is near the road, dates from around the 12th century. It was used for a while as a parish church, and of interest are the stairs in the chancel walls that led to a gallery, now destroyed, and the square tower to the west. The second is s...

A number of wells rise up at this eerie spot where one could imagine that people in times past could have wondered at the primeval power of nature. St. Patrick is said to have visited the place, and the water is said to cure 'sore lips, sore eyes, the scrofula and several other chronic diseases'.

In the middle of a pond is an early cross, and beside it is a church which was built on the site of a 12th century edifice, but which in its present mutilated form dates probably from the 16...