Clonattin, Wexford

I Location

Site Location
Clonattin
National Grid Reference
19T 17 60
County
traditional: Wexford
now: Wexford
Dedication
medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): Kilmakilloge Church
Type of building/monument
Church (ruin)

II General Description

Loose stones.

Loose stones.

Loose stones.

Loose stones.

Loose stones.

Loose stones.

Loose stones.

Loose stones.

A ruined church centrally located within a D-shaped cemetery surrounded by an earthen bank. A portion of the N wall (c.11.5m) and the W wall (c.2.6m) remain standing to a height of roughly 3m. The church originally had a separate nave and chancel (Moore 1996, 125).

VI Loose Sculpture

(i) Voussoirs

Loose stone with frontal chevron.

Loose stone with frontal chevron.

Loose stone with frontal chevron.

Loose stone with frontal chevron.

Loose stone with frontal chevron.

Loose stone with frontal chevron.

Voussoirs with frontal chevron below a square moulding, three rolls separated by wedges, with trefoil foliage palmette in triangle on soffit.

Dimensions

1. h. 0.27 x w. 0.15 x d. 0.40 m
2. h. 0.28 x w. 0.15 x d. 0.43 m
3. (broken along one side) h. 0.28 x w. 0.08 x d. 0.43 m
4. h. 0.28 x w. 0.12 x d. 0.43 m

(ii) Voussoirs

Loose stone with lateral chevron.

Loose stone with lateral chevron.

Loose stone with lateral chevron.

Loose stone with lateral chevron.

Loose stone with lateral chevron.

Loose stone with lateral chevron.

Loose stones with lateral chevron.

Loose stones with lateral chevron.

Voussoirs with lateral chevron, two rolls flanked by wedges

Dimensions

1. Springer h. 0.20 x w. 0.25 x d. 0.25 m
2. Broken voussoir h. 0.20 x w. 0.12 x d. 0.26 m

(iii) Voussoirs

Loose stone with fret pattern.

Loose stone with fret pattern.

Loose stone with fret pattern.

Loose stone with fret pattern.

Loose stone with fret pattern.

Loose stone with fret pattern.

Loose stone with fret pattern.

Loose stone with fret pattern.

Voussoirs with fret pattern on face and soffit.

Dimensions

1. h. 0.30 x w. 0.16 x d. 0.34 m
2. (broken) h. 0.30 x w. 0.13 x d. 0.30 m
3. h. 0.33 x w. 0.09 x d. 0.43 m

(iv) Angle capitals

Capital with foliage.

Capital with foliage.

Capital with foliage.

Capital with foliage.

Foliage capital.

Foliage capital.

1. Foliage with pseudo-volutes. Angle capital (for angle roll) flanked by a three-quarter capital on each face, with necking roll.

2. Upright foliage with balls at the top of the stems, for angle roll and flanking three-quarter capitals.

Dimensions

1. h. 0.23 x w. 0.27 x d. 0.51 m
2. h. 0.24 x w. 0.25 x d. 0.45 m

(v) Jambstones

Jamb stones.

Jamb stones.

Jamb stones.

Jamb stones.

Jamb stones with three-quarter angle roll flanked by a wedge and another thick roll.

Dimensions

1. h. 0.18 x w. 0.43 x d. 0.30 m
2. h. 0.18 x w. 0.43 x d. 0.26 m
3. (broken) h. 0.08 x w. 0.31 x d. 0.28 m
4. (broken) h. 0.06 x w. 0.24 x d. 0.15 m
5. (corner broken) h. 0.18 x w. 0.35 x d. 0.26 m

VII History

The church is thought to have been a cell of Ferns Abbey. It apparently no longer belonged to Ferns in 1541. In 1641 the lands on which it stands were granted to the Ram family, descendants of Dr. Thomas Ram, Bishop of Ferns. The initial destruction of the church appears to have been by insurgents in the 1798 rebellion. The church was in ruins by 1826 (Brewer) and by 1840 (OS letters) was more or less leveled.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Hore (1911) recorded traces of a doorway in the west gable ‘now reduced to a formless breach’, but with stones scattered around. Moore (Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford) records indications of an entrance to the cemetery at the NW corner, and twelve cut stones from a Romanesque doorway at the W end gable. Sixteen Romanesque stones were found at the site in 2002, and correspond closely to Hore’s illustrations and reconstruction of the arch. The decoration of the doorway with fret pattern, frontal chevron, and foliage capitals, is closely related to the W doorway at Freshford. Hore also illustrated a capital with a crouching human figure on the face and a human head at the angle, similar to the capitals with angle heads at Freshford.

IX Bibliography

  • J. N. Brewer, The Beauties of Ireland; being Original Deliniations, Topographical, Historical and Bibliographical of each County, 3 vols, London 1865-60, II, 656.
  • P. H. Hore, A History of the Town and County of Wexford, Wexford, 1904?, London 1911, Vol. 6, 654-58.
  • M. O’Flanagan, (compiler) Letters Containing Information Relevant to the Antiquities of Wexford collected during the Progress of the Ordinance Survey in 1840, 2 vols, Bray, 1933, vol.1, 10.
  • A. Gwynn, and R. N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, Ireland, London 1970, 198.
  • M. Moore, An Archaeological Inventory of Co. Wexford, Dublin, 1996, 125.
  • T. O’Keeffe, ‘Diarmait Mac Murchada and Romanesque Leinster: four twelfth-century churches in context’, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 127, 1997, 64.