churches historical ireland

A St. Bridget ( Not to be confused with the saint of the same name from Kildare) founded a monastery or convent here in the 6th century which was burned in 1094. The 34 foot high stump of a Round Tower with round-headed doorway is all that remains of the old monastery. The church is said to have been built in 1609, but may be earlier. It has an intact east window and partially preserved barrel-vaulting. The staircase leading from the church to the roof forms a separate building beside the ch...

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...

The oldest building on the site is a round Tower with round-headed door way and windows.
On the north face, about six feet above the ground, are much weathered carvings of birds (cock and hen?). Beside the tower stands a medieval church, possibly late 13th century in date, though much altered in the 15th century.

The west doorway preserves some fine stonework. Unusual features are the heads (probably 15th century) of bishops or abbots, a king and others on the outer side of the doo...

The earliest monastery was founded here by St. Declan who is alleged to have been a bishop in Munster when St. Patrick arrived, and who is one of the main supports for the belief in the existence of Christianity in the south of Ireland before St. Patrick. Ardmore was recognised as a Cathedral and had its bishop in 1170. In 1591 it was leased to Sir Walter Raleigh who only held it for 2 years. In 1642 the confederate army hiding in the Church and Round Tower were besieged by the English. When...

Designed by John Nash and completed in 1817, at a cost of IR2,307, the church is a delightful Gothic Revival building. One of only two known Nash designed churches to have survived.

There is a very fine interior with superb plasterwork, stained glass and a vast array of wall plaques. Well worth a visit…...

Its earliest part is the nave, probably erected in the 12th century when the Augustinian Canons took over an earlier monastery associated with St Nechtan. The exterior east end of the nave still preserves slight extensions of the north and south walls beyond the gable ends. More unusual is the blind arcading still traceable in the eastern interior corners of the nave, which helps to provide a date no earlier than the second quarter of the twelfth century. Now closed off from the nave by a woo...

Situated on the site of an older monastery founded by St. Feichin of Fore in the 7th century, this is a 13th century or later church incorporating 12th century features including a doorway and mouldings at the corners. The doorway has an arch of heads covered by a hood moulding, and there may have been a tympanum.

The capitals have rather worn representations of imaginary beasts. The monks later moved to a spot 300 yards westwards, below the present quarry, where a church with an in...

Little is known about the history of the place, but a monastery may have been founded here by St. Abban, though it is also connected with other saints. Near the road is a 12th or 13th century church with antae, and with an unusual pointed east window which is off-centre. The west end would seem to have been added on later, as were possibly the other buildings to the north and south of the church, of which only the foundations remain. A few hundred yards to the north-north-east is a larger chu...

Built into the modern Church of Ireland Cathedral of St. Feighlimidh is a fine 12th century Romanesque doorway which was removed from an early monastery on Trinity Island in Lough Oughter, three miles away.

In the rebuilding of the doorway in its present position, some of the stones have been incorrectly replaced....

Popularly known as "St. Kevin's Kitchen" and consisting of a church, cell and watch-tower, this is the most interesting and best-preserved of the church-remains at Glendalough. Boasting a remarkable corbelled stone roof, it has been traditionally associated with having been built by Kevin himself, as an oratory and dormitory, in the sixth century. Analysis of the style of architecture, however, tends to suggest that considerable alterations may have been undertaken during the eight and...