These weathered stones mark the site of an early Christian monastery, though the church you see today is largely the result of a 17th century rebuild. When surveyors visited in 1622, they found the building in “reasonably good repair” with a traditional thatched roof still intact; a far cry from its current roofless state.

The church’s walls tell a layered story of reconstruction and reuse. Sharp;eyed visitors will spot fragments of carved stone from a much earlier church, dating to the late 12th or 13th century, carefully incorporated into the later building work. This practice of recycling religious stonework was common in Ireland, where medieval masons often salvaged decorative elements from older churches when constructing new ones. The church continued serving the local community until 1807, when a new place of worship was built elsewhere in the parish.

The surrounding graveyard offers its own points of interest, particularly the southwestern section where the ground level rises dramatically. This elevated area, enclosed by a distinctive curving wall, suggests centuries of burials have quite literally raised the earth. The heightened ground is a common feature in long;used Irish graveyards, where generations of interments gradually build up the soil level, creating these characteristic mounded landscapes that speak to the deep roots of local families in the area.