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Inchbofin, St Rioch

Location
(53°32′9″N, 7°54′36″W)
Inchbofin, St Rioch
N 06 54
pre-1974 traditional (Republic of Ireland) Westmeath
now Westmeath
medieval Clonard
now Clonard
medieval St Rioch
  • Roger Stalley
Missing

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Feature Sets
Description

Inchbofin is an island in Lough Ree, on which two churches remain: one is a simple nave and chancel building of about 1200, lacking Romanesque decoration; the other is a more substantial 12thc church, which has been remodelled on various occasions: the original church was aisleless and measured (internally) 13.64m by 5.50 m; a transept was added to the N in the 15thc and a vaulted sacristy was inserted between this and the nave. The only Romanesque ornament is to be found in the chancel window.

History

Inchbofin was the site of an early Christian monastery, said to have been founded in the 6thc. by St Rioch, a nephew of St Patrick. In 1016 the site was attacked by the Uí Briain, and Lough Ree continued to be a crucial border area between Meath, Bréifne and Connacht into the twelfth century, when battles were fought on the lake between the forces of these kingdoms.

Features

Exterior Features

Windows

Comments/Opinions

A carved label stop (see the photograph in Crawford, below) suggests that there was once a Romanesque portal on Inchbofin, no other trace of which remains.

Bibliography

H. S. Crawford, 'The Churches and Monuments of Inis Bo Finne, County Westmeath', Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 47 (1917), 139-52.

H. G. Leask, Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings (Dundalk, 1955), 101-2.