BURNCHURCH CASTLE

Map Reference: S476474

The 15th century castle at Burnchurch was built by the Fitzgerald Family and continued to be occupied until the beginning of the 19th century.It is six storeys high and has many chambers and passages, including a secret chamber which is reached by descending from the fourth floor. At this floor there is a very fine fireplace and a round chimney. There are excellent crenellations and the narrow sides of the building are carried up a storey higher than the other sides to provide two long turrets. The castle had a walled courtyard attached and the 12.5m high round turret of this survives.

ST MARY'S CHURCH, CALLAN

Map Reference: S414436

St Mary's Church was originally a cruciform building but the transepts are now missing. The chancel and choir are roofed but are not now accessible. Inside the choir is a good square font and there is a fine east window. There is a good west tower. The broad aisles have arcades with four arches. There are some good tomb-chests in the church but no effigies. One of these tombs depicts a very faint skeleton and another has some good examples of vaulting and window tracery. There are good N and S doorways with decorated hoods and label stops. Both doorways have carvings of angels and above the N doorway is the carved head of a woman in medieval head-dress.

CALLAN AUGUSTINIAN PRIORY

The ruins of the Augustinian Priory consist of a rectangular building with a central tower. A spiral stairway leads above the tower crossing and there are three storeys above that. In the N wall of the church at the W end is a large arch which may have led to a transept. At the E end of the church in the S wall is a very fine triple sedilia. The decorated hood features birds, dogs and dragons as well as foliage. Beside the sedilia is a good piscina with a quatrefoil basin. There is one tomb-chest at the east end of the church but it is very plain. There is some carving on the outside of the doorway.

FRESHFORD

Map Reference: S406648

St Lachtain founded a church here in 622. The present church dates from 1730 but in the west gable is a fine 12th century Romanesque doorway. It has three orders and is very deep. Some figure sculpture can be seen on either side but it is greatly weathered. There is also some key pattern. The doorway is surmounted by a plain triangular hood which may be more recent. Above this is a round window with chevron decoration.

GOWRAN

Map Reference: S633536

St Mary's Church is a fine rectangular structure the east end of which is roofed and still in use by the Church of Ireland. A large tower is centrally placed and the west end is ruinous. The north wall is crenellated and the north aisle arcade of four arches is intact. There are traces of a possible S transept. The church has many niches particularly in the south wall where there are four tomb niches and a piscina. The east window of the south aisle is a fine two-light structure with a decorated hood. The church has many carved masks. There are some good tomb chests and coffin lids. In particular there are two effigy slabs, a man and a woman standing on serpents. In the W corner is a tomb chest the lid of which is carved with a shrouded corpse. Some of the panels feature the instruments of the Passion and one of the end panels has a Crucifixion. It is dated 1626.

GRAIGUENAMANAGH

Map Reference: S709437

The Cistercian abbey of Duiske was founded in 1207. During the 1970s a large portion of the abbey church was restored and is now used by the local parish. The present level of the floor is about 2m above the original level. In the baptistry, just off the S aisle, there is a very fine doorway of 13th century date, and the effigy of a knight of similar date is preserved in the church. In the graveyard there are two crosses. Figured scenes on the north cross include David, the Sacrifice of Isaac and the Fall of Man. The cross has a solid ring and is about 2.3m high with a high base. The south cross, which is about 2m high, also has a solid ring and is carved with a Crucifixion and panels of interlace.

GRANAGH CASTLE

Map Reference: S575144

This castle is built on the bank of the River Suir and the earliest portion may date from the 13th century. There are three round flanking towers with joining walls which may be the fortifications of the original castle. The square tower within the wall may date from the 14th century but there are 15th century additions. The fine oriel window high up on the S wall is 17th century. There are many narrow defensive loops and some mullioned windows. To the west of the tower was a two-storey hall. One of the upper windows of this is finely decorated, both inside and outside. The sculptures include St Michael the Archangel weighing souls on the Day of Judgement.

GRANGEFERTAGH

Map Reference: S308696

The monastery here was probably founded by St Ciaran of Seir in the 6th century. The 30m Round Tower is the only remnant of its later phase. Part of the cap still remains and there is a simple round-headed doorway. The tower was burned in 1156 by Murtagh MacNeale, the High King. Drawings of the early 19th century suggest that it had a round top. This was removed later in the century by a local farmer who, thinking that the stones were fireproof, had them unsuccessfully fitted as firebricks in his kitchen. Near the tower is the ruin of a church and within it is a very fine tomb-chest. One of the long panels of this depicts examples of vaulting and window tracery. On the tomb is the duoble effigy of John MacGillapatrick and his wife. The tomb was sculpted in 1511 by Rory O'Tunney

JERPOINT ABBEY

Map Reference: S573402

Like many of the Cistercian abbeys of Ireland Jerpoint was originally a Benedictine foundation. It was colonised by monks from Baltinglass in 1180. There are some very good traces of the original 12th century church but most of the existing buildings date from the 15th century. The layout is typical of the Cistercians with a large cruciform church and a south cloister with its associated buildings. The capitals of the pillars in the aisle arcades are richly decorated and within the church are some fine tomb-chests with weepers and effigies. In the chancel is a triple sedilia and a double piscina.The large traceried east window replaces some earlier lancets. At the NE corner of the cloister is a carving of St Christopher. The 15th century cloister-arcade as been renconstructed in the south and west. The arches are round and in groups of three. Many of the pillars of the arcade are decorated with high-relief carvings of clerics, knights and grotesques as well as other figures. Some of the capitals and bases of the pillars are also decorated.

KELLS PRIORY

Map Reference: S499433

This is a fine example of a fortified Augustinian priory. It is divided into two wards, the upper ward having four towers with connecting walls. The walls are well provided with defensive loops and there is a fine gateway with a machicolation. The corner towers have machicolations over the doorways and the tower at the E has two fireplaces and a mural stairway. A fifth tower guards the bridge over the moat which runs along the wall dividing the wards. There is another tower in the wall of the lower ward. Within this ward are the remains of a church and other buildings including a residential tower of about four storeys. The church is greatly ruined.

KILFANE

Map Reference: S598451

The tower at the east end of this small church may have housed the sacristy in its lower storey and provided residential accommodation in the upper two storeys. The main item of interest within the church is the larger-than-life effigy of a knight with crossed legs. The date of the sculpture is uncertain but if it is mid-13th century it may be the effigy of Thomas Cantwell. When the church was re-used as a school in the 19th century bad boys were made to kiss the stoney lips of 'Long Cantwell' as a punishment.

KILKEERAN

Map Reference: S422273

There are two complete crosses here and two fragments. They are similar in style to the crosses at Ahenny, Co Tipperary. The west cross has some damage to the ring and the decoration is greatly weathered. The flat surfaces are covered with interlacing and spiral patterns. The edges have twisted rope decoration. The cross has a conical cap. The east face of the base has a panel featuring eight horsemen. Unfortunately a modern railed grave enclosure has been erected very close to this cross and makes examination of the carving very difficult. The rest of the base is covered with interlacing. Beside it is part of the shaft of another decorated cross. A short distance away a third cross stands on a circular base. It has lost its ring and most of its arms. A fourth cross is similar in shape to the west cross but has no decoration. At the east end of the graveyard there are two bullaun stones and a holy well.

KILLAMERY

Map Reference: S375360

At Killamery there is a very fine High Cross with curvilinear ornamentation and a finial. There are also some figured scenes and some intertwined beasts. It has been dated to the 9th century. Beside it is a large bullaun stone and a boulder with a 20cm wide perforation. There is also a small perforated stone and a good cross-inscribed slab. In the adjoining field is a holy well.

KILREE

Map Reference: S496412

The Round Tower at Kilree is about 29m high and has a good round-headed doorway. It stands beside the ruin of a large church with antae at the W end. There are indications that there were also antae at the E end where a later extension was built. There is a lintelled W doorway. In the field to the west of the church is a very fine High Cross. It has five bosses on the west face and one boss on the east face.The cross is covered with spirals and other ornamentation. There is some figure carving but it is very faint.

TULLAHERIN

Map Reference: S591478

The monastery at Tullaherin may have been founded by St Ciaran of Seir. The main remnant of the early foundation is the 22.5m high Round Tower. The doorway is now blocked and its original shape is not clear because many of the stones have been robbed from the tower. The church was probably pre-Norman with a later added chancel. Beside it is a defaced Ogham stone.

ULLARD

Map Reference: S724481

The small nave-and-chancel church at Ullard has a fine Romanesque west doorway. This originally had three orders but the inner order has been completely rebuilt. There is the usual decoration including human and animal heads but it is greatly weathered. There are some small round-headed windows in the south wall of the nave. The chancel has a later two-light east window and there is a crypt below the altar. There is a ball-alley attached to the east gable and just outside the SE corner of this is a greatly weathered High Cross. There is a Crucifixion on one face and some spirals on the base.