churches historical ireland

The Protestant church built in 1820 is a fine structure which contains a silver copy of the famous Cross of Cong, placed there in memory of the late Sir William Murphy.

The Catholic church built in 1830 stands on the site of the famous clochan, or beehive-shaped monastic stone hut from which the town takes its name....

The present nave and chancel are of nineteenth century date but incorporates many medieval fragments. The church stands on the site of an ancient celtic monastery which, at one stage, housed the shrine of Saint Patrick. In 1315 Edward Bruce, who had been crowned High King of Ireland, herded all the townspeople of Ardee into the church before burning it to the ground. Other medieval fragments in the church grounds, include a medieval market cross and a medieval font....

Ballyporeen in whose cruciform church (1828) a Michael Reagan, great-grandfather of USA President Ronald Reagan , was baptised on 3 September 1829. a handsome parish publication traces roots.

A pub flourishes the President's name - beside the owner's name in gold lettering over a Victorian corner door. Templetenny Cemetery, burial place of the Reagans , is worth a visit....

Augustinian Friary

Eamonn Mac Risderd Butler of Pottlerath founded this Friary for the Augustinian Observants in 1462, but it was his son James who erected the existing buildings between 1467 and 1470, by which time the church had been affiliated to Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. The church consists of one Long rectangle crowned by a central tower, and it has a decorative doorway and window in the east wall. The sedilia in the south wall of the choir is one of the most orn...

Little is known of the history of this church other than that it was dedicated to St. Farannan. The saint exiled himself from here to the Continent where he died at Waser on the Meuse in 982. the church consists of a nave and chancel, with finely ornamented west doorway and chancel arch.
The door has good Romanesque decoration, a hood above it, and is said to have contained a tympanum with a cat with two tails (probably a lion). Above the chancel arch, which has well-preserved capitals, i...

An Early Christian monastery founded possibly by St. Berichter or Berchert who, with his father (a Saxon Prince) and two brothers, came to Ireland after the Synod of Whitby in 664. Another saint of the same name, who was possibly also Abbot of the monastery, died in 839.

The existing church is of various dates. The south end of the east wall is probably the oldest part (12th century?) while the south door and window are early 13th century. The present chancel was built in the 15th ce...

A delightful romanesque doorway is the main feature of this small rural church where many of the Butlers of Kilcash are interred....

On one side of the river is a 13th century church incorporating a square belfry at the western end. The remains of three lancet windows can be seen in the east wall. On the other side of the river is a castle which is not in the best of condition but has two corner fireplaces and tall profiled chimney stacks. The castle was built in the 16th century by the Burkes; in 1574 it was in the possession of MacWilliam Eighter' (Sir John fitz Oliver Burke)....

St Macartin's Church of Ireland Cathedral and graveyard. Set against the tower of an earlier church built in the 1620s the present building, opened in 1842, is characteristic of early Victorian architecture. In 1923 it was promoted to cathedral status of the diocese of Clogher....

A mote-and-bailey can be seen near the gate of the fifteenth-century St Finian's Church, which is of the nave and chancel type with a three-storey fortified tower. The tower was  where the priest used to live.Its fine tracery east window, is English in design and is one of the best of its kind in the country.

The church is still used for worship. This is a Roman Catholic Church

A thatched cottage in the village, now a public house, is at least two hundred year...