Church, Dragoonhill, Co. Wicklow

Co. Wicklow |

Churches & Chapels

Church, Dragoonhill, Co. Wicklow

A church perched on a low, steep-sided knoll in County Wicklow might seem unremarkable until you look closely at what it contains.

Set into the graveyard is a tapering granite slab, measuring just over a metre in length, which has been re-erected as a headstone. Carved onto its face is an equal-armed Maltese cross on a narrow stem, defined by a shallow groove in the stone. Nearby, a small disc-headed granite cross bearing a date that begins 166 and then trails off into illegibility once stood in the same ground. Inside the church itself, there is a granite mortar or piscina, a small stone basin used for the ritual washing of sacred vessels, fitted with four projecting lugs. These are modest objects individually, but together they suggest a site that accumulated layers of devotional use across several centuries.

The church as it now stands is possibly of 17th-century construction, but the ground beneath it has a longer story. A medieval church on this site was recorded as early as 1219 to 1228, when it belonged to the convent of Timolin, a house of Arroasian canonesses in County Kildare. The graveslab is dated to the 16th or 17th century, and the disc-headed cross may be contemporary with the present building. The site also formed part of the medieval borough of Hollywood, a settlement whose broader archaeology includes a cluster of related monuments in the surrounding area. The combination of a convent's outlying church, a carved Maltese cross slab, and a liturgical stone vessel surviving in situ is unusual enough to make Dragoonhill worth more than a passing glance.

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, Dragoonhill, Co. Wicklow. 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