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I Location

II General Description

Romanesque church consisting of nave and chancel. The nave measures 9.00 m x 5.96 m and the chancel 5.75 m x 5.00 m externally. Ruined, but with most of the walls intact. The W portal is partly restored. There are round-headed windows in the S wall of the nave, and in the E and S walls of the chancel. There is a stone altar, and a niche in the S wall of the chancel. Only the S jamb of the chancel arch remains, and some fragments of loose sculpture have been set into the wall above the jamb. Eleven cross-inscribed slabs have also been found on the island, close to the church. There are also remains of a number of small stone houses on the island.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) W doorway, nave

Of four orders. Of reddish-brown sandstone, with slightly inclined jambs. Restored at top.

First order

Plain square order. Round arch intact.

Second order

Worn bases with spurs supporting monolithic nook shafts. The L jamb is decorated with nested chevron, with rolls separated by wedges. The column survives to a height of 1.04m. It is very worn. A section of detached nookshaft survives on the R (h. 0.44m). The face of the column is broken off and decoration only remains at the sides This comprises diagonal rolls separated by wedges (the rolls are wider than those on the L column), which must have formed spiral or chevron decoration.

L capital: missing.

R capital: block-like, with necking. Flat-leaf type with upright tri-lobed leaves furled at the top.

The arch is mostly lost. Three voussoirs remain on S, and have three rows of lateral centrifugal chevron, rolls separated by wedges, two rows on the face, and one on the soffit.

Third order

Worn bases with spurs. The L base has two bosses/pellets separating the spurs followed above by a moulding comprising a roll and hollow separated by a wedge. The bases support nook shafts, although only a fragment survives on the L. On R and L the surviving lower section of nook shaft is detached, but the upper section of the nook shaft on the R is coursed with the jambs.

L capital: missing.

R capital: block-like with necking, very worn, possibly it originally had foliage similar to the second order capital.

In the arch, four voussoirs remain on the L and four on the R. These are carved with three rows of frontal chevron, formed from rolls separated by fillets. The top of the arch is missing.

Fourth order

Worn bases with spurs. The R base is similar to the third order L base. These support nook shafts. the L nook shaft is coursed, the R nook shaft is coursed in the lower part but appears also to have had a detached section (now missing) on the R.

L capital: multi-scallop (four scallops on each face).

R capital: carved with upright foliage motifs, worn and partly defaced.

No original voussoirs survive in the arch. One section of the label survives on the L and two sections on the R. The L section is carved with dogtooth, and the R section, although very worn, seems also to have been carved with dogtooth. The R label stop has a human head, with the top missing, but otherwise well preserved.

Dimensions

2. Windows

(i) E window

Round headed, of two orders, the inner order square and the outer order chamfered, with a chamfered label. Remains of a corbel are set in the wall above the window. This is very worn and damaged (possibly a head?). The interior is plain and splayed

S window, chancel

Only the W jamb remains. The exterior and interior are plain, with interior splay

S window, nave

Plain, round headed, of two plain square orders. The interior has a narrow splay.

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

a. Chancel arch/Apse arches

(i) Chancel arch

The N jamb is damaged and the arch is missing. the S jamb survives in two orders. The mouldings suggest a later date than the W doorway.

First order

Semi-octagonal bases with a shallow roll-hollow-roll moulding supporting large half-shafts with a fillet/keel. The impost has a broad roll moulding (no capital).

Second order, W face

Chamfered jamb and impost.

Second order, E face

Chamfered jamb. Impost missing.

5. Interior Decoration

(c) Miscellaneous

(i) Reset human head corbel

The head is similar to that on the R label stop of the W doorway. The top is broken on the side and the left eye and cheek are missing, but the right side of the face and chin are well preserved and finely carved. The head has a long, oval face, an oval eye with a single line outline, and a small, finely carved nose. The mouth is slightly turned down at the corners. The style appears to be 12thc.

Dimensions

(ii) Relief with musician

A rectangular block carved on the face with a raised relief. It appears to have had projecting mouldings forming a frame at top and bottom, so that it could have formed part of a frieze (?). A figure is seated facing right, holding a bow and playing a stringed instrument (viol? lute?). The instrument is held on the left shoulder under the chin and bowed like a violin. The carving is in relief c.0.03 m deep and is fairly worn. The stone is the same Kerry red sandstone as that used for the human head and for the other cut stone in the building, and the style appears to be contemporary.

Dimensions

VII History

St Finian Cam is reputed to have founded the monastery in the 6thc. The island is referred to as ‘Inis Ausail’ in 1058 in the Annals of Inishfallen. The rectory of Inis Uasail is mentioned in 1418 and in 1622 ‘Inishouele’ is recorded as the ‘one prebend left to the church of Aghadoe’ (Trinity College Dublin, MS 2158, 48). The church was partially rebuilt in the 1880s.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The chancel and chancel arch appear to be later than the nave and W doorway, and possibly date from the early 13thc.. The relief with a musician is particularly unusual and it is not clear where it might originally have been located. Such figure sculpture is rarely found in an architectural context in Irish Romanesque; other examples being at Kilteel (Kildare), Ardmore (Waterford), Freshford (Kilkenny), and a fragment in the ruined church at Rathblathmaic (Clare). A number of cross-inscribed slabs found near the church may also be Romanesque (see O’Sullivan and Sheehan).

IX Bibliography