Church in ruins, Gortatogher, Co. Mayo

Co. Mayo |

Churches & Chapels

Church in ruins, Gortatogher, Co. Mayo

In a field of undulating Mayo pasture, a low rectangular mound rising barely half a metre above the surrounding ground is all that remains of what was once a church.

By 1837, when the Ordnance Survey produced its first detailed six-inch mapping of Ireland, the building was already gone enough to be labelled simply "Church in ruins". Nearly a century later, the 1930 revision had downgraded it further still, replacing even the outline of a structure with a cross symbol and the annotation "Church (Site of)", ringed by hachuring, the cartographic shorthand for a slight earthwork. Between those two maps, the walls completed their slow collapse into the soil.

What survives today is a grass-covered rise measuring roughly 13 metres north to south and 23 metres east to west, which appears to preserve the levelled foundations beneath its turf. Around the perimeter runs a low rim, about two and a half metres wide and standing only 0.4 to 0.5 metres high, from which stones protrude at intervals. More stones break through the sod across the interior, suggesting the outline of a rectangular building not yet entirely swallowed. The northern and eastern edges of this rim have slumped more broadly, spreading to three or four metres in width, the gradual result of frost, livestock, and time working on unmortared rubble. A field fence now runs along the western end of the site. The church's dedication, its congregation, and the date of its abandonment are not recorded here, but the bones of the building remain readable in the ground for anyone who knows to look for the slight change in level beneath the grass.

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 in ruins, Gortatogher, Co. Mayo. 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