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A holy well and ruined church (21.6m x 7.77m) with a large enclosure. The church has S window of two lights which appears to be early gothic, 13thc. Three Romanesque heads are reset inside the wall of the enclosure.
Monastery founded by St Luchtigern, possibly in the 6thc. There are records of an abbot in 994 and a lector in 1049; the monastery was plundered in 1045 (Gwynn and Hadcock, 1970, 407).
The three heads are now built into a modern wall, but were illustrated by Westropp (1900, pl. XI 10) set over a lintelled W doorway with inclined jambs. The Shell Guide (1967) also describes three Romanesque masks set in the W gable of the oratory above a trabeate W door. The heads appear to be 12thc. corbels, and are similar to the human head corbels at Temple Cronan, although more crudely carved. The central head is of finer stone and is better preserved than the two others.
M.M. Killanin and M.V. Duignan, Shell Guide to Ireland. Dublin, 1962, 2nd ed. 1967.
A. Gwynn and R.N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland. London 1970, 407.
P. Harbison, 'Some Romanesque Heads from County Clare', NMAJ, 15, 1972, 3-7.
T.J. estropp, 'The Churches of County Clare, and the origin of the ecclesiastical divisions in that county.' PRIA 22 , 1900, 149-50.
