churches historical clare

The church and Round Tower stand on the site of an Early Christian monastery founded by St. Tola who died between 733 and 737. Where the church stands there was a 12th century Romanesque nave-and-chancel church with a plain chancel arch and a wonderfully decorated west doorway above which was an ornamental lancet window. Three narrow lancet windows were inserted in the east gable early in the 13th century.

Some considerable time later the church must have fallen into decay. Possibly...

There is a somewhat doubtful report that the monastery was following the Benedictine rule in the 8th century. The Vikings burned the monastery in 836 and again in 922. Brian Boru is said to have built one of the churches on the island, while his brother, who died in 1009, was Abbot. Around 1043 a monk at Inishcaltra named Anmchad was ordered to leave the monastery because, as Guest-master, he had offered wine to the monastery's guests without the Abbot's permission. He left for Fulda in Germ...

Killinaboy is an early monastic site named after St. Inghean Bhaoth. It has the remains of a church of the 11th or 12th century, over the south door, a Sheila-na-gig, female figure with no ascertainable ecclesiastical significance. On the outside of the west gable is the design of a two bar cross in the masonry. There is also the base of a round tower.

A short distance away on the bank of the River Fergus is an ivy-clad turret and bawn, known as De Clare's House.

About 1.5 k...

On the far side of Liscannor Bay, 5 km north-west of Lahinch. It is a small fishing village. Kilmacreehy, or St. Macreehy's Church, 1.5 km east of Liscannor, is a medieval parish church, with nave and chancel. It was built in the early 12th century, on the site of a famous school founded by St. Macreehy in the 6th century.

The castle ruin in the village, built by the O'Connors, became an O'Brien stronghold and was occupied by Sir Turlough O'Brien during the threatened invasion at the...

The cathedral of St Flannan, on the west bank of the river, close to the bridge, dates from the 13th century. It is a simple building without aisles but with north and south transepts and a low bell tower where transepts, nave and chancel join to form the usual cross. The church is of sandstone in a variety of shades. Immediately inside the entrance, on the right, a rich Romanesque doorway (taken from an earlier and, it is said, finer church on the same site) frames a window on the southern s...

A small church dedicated to St Cronan of Roscrea, or Tuamgraney. The original lintelled doorway in the west wall was blocked up when an arched doorway was inserted into the north wall, probably some time in the 15th century. In the exterior walls there are some grotesque Romanesque heads, so the church probably dates from the 12th century. Near the church is a stone tomb-reliquary of uncertain date, which is locally said to mark the grave of St. Cronan. Another stands in the adjoining field....

This is probably the oldest Irish church still in use. The western portion of the church, with its lintelled doorway, is said to have been rebuilt by the Abbot Cormac O'Killeen in 969, and the church is reputed to have been repaired again by Brian Boru, around 1000. It now serves as a Heritage Centre displaying many Romanesque fragments. The eastern portion of the church is 12th century in date; it has corner columns, but it is doubtful if the two south windows in the eastern part of the chur...

In St Flannan's Catholic Church grounds it eh oratory of St Lua, probalby 1,000 to 1,200 years old - here since 1930 when it was brought from Friar's Island as the Shannon scheme threatened to submerge it. This elevated site once housed Kincora, the palace of the Dal Cais clan, notably King Brian Boru and his descendants, the O'Briens. The Cathedral of the Church of Ireland and, in its grounds , an oratory which has a high -pitched roof, a barrel vaulted ceiling of stone with a croft or...

St. Flannan's Oratory in the cathedral grounds is a well-preserved stone-roofed Romanesque church which dates from the 12th century....

St. Molua's Oratory: in the grounds of the Catholic church on the hill-top may be found another example of early Irish church building. This is the small oratory of St. Lua or Molua from whom Killaloe got its name. Only the chancel is roofed, with a high pitched roof of stone. Of the nave nothing remains except some walling. The oratory, originally on Friar's Island about 1km downstream from Killaloe, was removed to its present location in 1929, when the raising of the river level thr...