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St Munnu, Kilbunny

Location
(52°16′1″N, 7°17′51″W)
Kilbunny
S 48 13
pre-1974 traditional (Republic of Ireland) Waterford
now Waterford
  • Tessa Garton

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Feature Sets
Description

Small ruined church consisting of a rectangular nave (interior c.8.5 x 5 m), with walls of rough uncoursed stone remaining to a height of 1.3 to 2.5 m. The church has a rebuilt Romanesque W doorway.

History

The early history of this foundation is obscure. It was restored in 1987.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Exterior Decoration

Miscellaneous
Comments/Opinions

The doorway appears to be inaccurately restored and the axial voussoir is much narrower than the others. Other voussoirs may have been lost. Leask suggests that the rebuilt doorway is probably only one order of a larger original. However, it is unlikely that such a small church would have had a much larger doorway. The heads at the top of the jambs are a simplified version of the capitals with angle heads which are common in Irish Romanesque. The chancel arch of the Nun's Church at Clonmacnoise has a human head similarly recessed into a rectangular block capital. The corbel is probably not in its original position. Leask (1955) describes the doorway as being 'flanked by carvings, one of a horse-head', but there is now no trace of any other carvings around the doorway.

Bibliography
H. G. Leask, Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings, Dundalk, 1955, I, 161.
P. Power, Ancient Ruined Churches of Co. Waterford, Waterford and South East Ireland, Archaeological Journal, 1, 1894-5, 247-50.
P. Power, Kilbunny, Co. Waterford, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 32, 1922, 77-80.