saint moluas oratory

St. Molua's Oratory: in the grounds of the Catholic church on the hill-top may be found another example of early Irish church building. This is the small oratory of St. Lua or Molua from whom Killaloe got its name. Only the chancel is roofed, with a high pitched roof of stone. Of the nave nothing remains except some walling. The oratory, originally on Friar's Island about 1km downstream from Killaloe, was removed to its present location in 1929, when the raising of the river level threatened to submerge the building. The Shannon hydro-electric scheme has had the effect, in fact, of creating an artificial, through much smaller, lake between Lough Derg, which acts as the main reservoir or mill-dam and the weir at O'Brien's Bridge downstream.