Graveyard, Glebe, Cloghan, Co. Donegal
In the townland of Glebe near Glenmore, County Donegal, the ruins of Kilteevoge Old Church stand as a testament to centuries of rural Irish worship.
Graveyard, Glebe, Cloghan, Co. Donegal
The church’s history can be traced through a silver communion plate donated in 1691 by the widow of Thomas Davies, whose inscription reveals that she rebuilt the church that year. Following another restoration in 1733, the building continued to serve the local community for nearly 150 years until St. John’s Church was constructed at Glenmore between 1877 and 1879.
Today, what remains of the church measures 15.7 metres by 7.3 metres internally, constructed from rubble walls with distinctive ashlar quoins; these corner stones are composed of narrow blocks set vertically, a characteristic building technique of the period. The eastern gable, now only 1.5 metres high, is embedded into the western end of the graveyard mound, topped rather curiously with a rock basin set in concrete beside a modern gap in the wall. The western gable preserves evidence of the main entrance, though the doorway is now blocked and lacks its original head and rear arch, with a modern altar constructed against its interior face.
The most complete section is the southern wall, which features three splayed windows typical of medieval and early modern Irish church architecture. Whilst only the lower courses of the two eastern windows survive, the western window stands remarkably intact at approximately 3 metres high, complete with its round head and rear arch. The northern wall remains only partially, extending 9.5 metres from the west corner and standing 2.4 metres high, with its eastern end rebuilt and incorporating what appears to be a chamfered stone fragment, possibly salvaged from an original doorway.





