churches historical ireland

A nave-and-chancel church probably built in the 12th century. The chancel probably once had a steep-pitched stone roof with a small attic room over the chancel. The nave has a small round-headed window in the south wall. The western portion of the church was added later as a two-storey living quarters. There is a good collection of eighteenth-century tombstones in the graveyard....

The Parish Church occupies the site of churches dating back to the original foundation by St. Ailbe, who died in 527AD....

The remains of a church built possibly in the 15th century. The eastern portion is probably the earliest; the western part, with its massive tower and belfry, was added later.

In the 13th century the site was attached to the church at Balrothery and was granted to the religious house at Kilbixy by the Archbishop of Dublin.
It was subsequently made tributary to Lusk. A castle stood formerly to the north of the church....

Small ruined 10th-Century church near lighthouse. Always accessible....

This collegiate church, was built in the late 13th century on the site of an earlier monastery. It was served by a college - clerics who lived in a community but who did not submit to the rule of a monastery. They lived in a house, now destroyed, beside the church. The church was a large and elaborate structure, with an aisled nave (the main part of the the church where the congregation sat) and a long chancel (the section of church where the altar was placed) and has high quality architectural...

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...

Youghal has been a flourishing town since the 13th century, if not before. It was sacked by the Rebel Earl of Desmond in 1579. In 1588-9 its mayor was Walter Raleigh, who, though he spent little time in it, is alleged by tradition to have planted the first Irish potato there. Owned by Richard Boyle (afterwards Earl of Cork) in the early 17th century, it was blockaded by Lord Castlehaven in 1645. Cromwell, to whom the town gave allegiance, used it as the base for his Irish expedition, and sa...

Built on a miniature scale, these ruins remained undiscovered until 1876. St. Kevin was a close friend of St. Kieran. When hearing of Kieran's impending death he hastened to Clonmacnoise to be with his friend to the end, but he arrived too late and found Kieran laid out for burial. However, by heavenly dispensation Kieran's beatified spirt returned to his body so that he could bid farewell to his dearest friend. Kieran died in 547 AD at the age of 33, just seven months after founding his fam...

Little now remains of the very early monastery founded on this site by St. Mogue, in the sixth century. A pleasant concentration of ancient crosses and other early Christian artefacts survive....

Teampall Beanan (Temple Benan) near Arkin Castle and higher up, prominently silhouetted on the skyline, is the small church of Saint Benan dating from early Christian times....