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I Location

II General Description

Rectangular church, 20.47 m x 7.16 m, roofless but with walls standing almost to full height. There is evidence of a smaller, earlier church in the massive masonry blocks in W and N walls, and an off-centre trabeated W doorway with inclined jambs. The church appears to have been extended to the E and S of the original structure in the early 13thc. It was originally 8.51 m wide at the E end. The S wall was later rebuilt N of its 13thc. position, narrowing the church and partially blocking an aumbry on the S side of the E wall. There are plain windows, one on the N and two on the S wall. A double window in the E wall has transitional sculpture. This is flanked by double aumbries, partially blocked on the S by the rebuilt S wall. A transitional doorway has been reset in the S wall.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) S doorway

Narrow, pointed arch of three orders. Limestone

Dimensions

First order

No bases, filleted half-responds, second course renewed on E. Necking below carved capitals, the form of the necking echoes the fillet on the shaft.

W capital: collar of round-headed leaves with thick, twisted leaves above.

E capital: damaged on interior face. Dragon at bottom biting wing of (?) bird with a row of metamorphic foliage/beast heads above.

The capitals have rounded abaci but square imposts, with a three-quarter roll (the impost is not original, it is possibly a reused window moulding, the W could be part of a jamb, the E a corner moulding of a window). In the arch, filleted angle rolls to front and rear, and two deep hollows on soffit with chamfered central moulding. On the face a hollow then a roll. The rear section of the keystone has been replaced with an unmoulded piece of stone.

Second order

Triangular bases on chamfered plinths with a roll at the bottom and a torus. These support deeply recessed, detached, filleted shafts with a bobbin at the centre. Only the E upper shaft is original. The bobbin is coursed with the jambs and has a thin roll at top and bottom and a thick keeled roll at the centre.

W capital: long, symmetrically-paired leaves, furled at the tip, with berries between the tips.

E capital: four animal heads above cones in emulation of a stiff-leaf capital. They have almond-shaped eyes, pointed ears and gaping mouths containing round pellets. The E animal has a spiralling, foliate tongue.

Both capitals have a rounded abacus. The necking echoes the fillet on the shaft. The imposts are round with a keel moulding.

In the arch, angled, gaping chevron containing pyramids with keeled frontal chevron over, set within a hollow and flanked by a roll. The springer on each side has a plain base and a half-chevron.

Third order

Base and jambs as second order. Upper shafts original on both sides, lower shafts modern.

W capital: long-stemmed overlapping lilies with smaller lilies between.

E capital: stiff leaf with berries. The central leaf has a pellet suspended beneath.

The abacus, necking and imposts are as the second order.

In the arch are free-standing, angled lozenges resting on a keeled roll, flanked by a hollow then a further roll. The label is chamfered with a keeled roll on the chamfer. There is a foliage label stop on the E but not on the W.

2. Windows

(i) E window

A double window with narrow, pointed lights, and chamfered recessed square order. (S light blocked).

Interior

Deeply splayed and framed by a continuous roll flanked by hollows. The central shaft has a fillet, the outer shafts are keeled.

N capital: reeded, very damaged at the top.

Centre capital: unreadable except for some foliage stems.

S capital: unreadable.

(ii) S window, E

Exterior with recessed continuous keeled roll. Interior plain.

(iii) S window, W

Exterior with recessed continuous square order. Interior plain.

(iv) N window

Only the lower section remains.

Recessed continuous hollow moulding.

Interior

This has hollows for detached shafts and the remains of mid-shaft bobbins.

VII History

An early monastic site with remains of St Sorney's Well and Bed. Fachtna Ó hAllgaith (d. 1232), coarb of Drumacoo, kept a guesthouse and a leper house (Gwynn and Hadcock, 1970, 34; AC 1232).

VIII Comments/Opinions

The doorway appears unusually narrow and some of the jointing is ill-fitting. Some of the voussoirs may have been removed and the imposts of the first order have been replaced with window mouldings. In the arch, only the second order has distinctively carved springers. The carving is of high quality, with fine detail and three-dimensional carving, and appears to belong to the later phase of the 'School of the West'. Leask compares the E window design to Corcomroe and the doorway to the E windows of Temple Jarlaith, Tuam. He compares some of the abacus mouldings to work of 1205-18 at Boyle, and some of the foliage designs to Cong, but the mouldings at Drumacoo appear more advanced than Boyle and the foliage is more deeply carved than at Cong. The dragon on the E capital of the first order of the doorway is similar to those on the chancel arch at Kilmacduagh, and the high relief beast heads on the second order are similar to that on that on the N nave arcade (NE angle, Pier 3) at Abbeyknockmoy. A row of beast heads with domed heads and almond shaped eyes is also found on the central capital of the E window at Kilfinaghta (Clare), on a shaft with a bobbin. Leask dates the doorway c.1235 on stylistic grounds, based on the similarity with Temple Jarlaith, Tuam. Kalkreuter dates the earliest parts of Drumacoo to c.1230 and the S doorway to c.1235.

IX Bibliography