Church, Wheery, Co. Offaly

Co. Offaly |

Churches & Chapels

Church, Wheery, Co. Offaly

On the flood plains of the river Brosna in County Offaly, a set of low limestone walls barely rises above the ground.

What remains of this early medieval church measures roughly twenty-four metres east to west, yet its walls survive to no more than half a metre in height, smothered in places by vegetation and slowly returning to the soggy landscape around them. Unusually, no architectural features remain visible at all; there is no traceable doorway, no window opening, nothing to orient the eye. What gives the masonry its distinctly odd quality is the irregularly coursed limestone construction, which produces what archaeologists call a cyclopean appearance, a rough, massive-looking finish created by large, unevenly laid blocks, characteristic of a number of early medieval ecclesiastical buildings in Ireland.

The church sits at the centre of an ecclesiastical enclosure, suggesting this was once a defined and purposeful religious site rather than an isolated structure. The most arresting detail associated with the place, however, was not found within it but pulled from the river. In 1849, a bronze bell and its shrine were recovered from the Brosna nearby, and local tradition connected both objects directly to this church. Such bells, often associated with early Irish saints and their communities, were sometimes housed in decorative metal shrines and treated as relics of considerable importance. The discovery was noted in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland in 1868 to 1869, though the current whereabouts of the bell and shrine are not detailed in surviving accounts of the site. Their presence in the river raises quiet questions about how they came to be there and what, if anything, that tells us about the end of the community that once gathered here.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Church, Wheery, Co. Offaly. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement