Church, Clintstown, Co. Kilkenny

Co. Kilkenny |

Churches & Chapels

Church, Clintstown, Co. Kilkenny

In County Kilkenny, at the precise point where two townlands and a river converge, there is said to be an early church and graveyard that no longer shows any trace of itself above the ground.

The site is known only through local tradition and the work of later historians, its presence inferred rather than observed. Even the field in which it may lie carries a name that gestures towards something older and more substantial: the Castle field, a designation that in Irish rural usage often marks ground where the memory of a structure outlasts the structure itself.

The earliest written record comes from William Carrigan's 1905 history of the Diocese of Ossory, which places the church and its associated graveyard in the angle formed by Clintstown townland where it meets Brackin and the River Nore. The Nore is the one fixed reference point in the landscape; Ordnance Survey mapping of the area shows no other watercourse nearby. A later local account by O'Kelly, writing in 1985, adds the detail about the Castle field, suggesting that oral knowledge of the site's approximate location persisted into the late twentieth century even as any physical evidence had long since disappeared. Whether the church was early medieval in origin, or belongs to some later period, the surviving record does not say.

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, Clintstown, Co. Kilkenny. 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