Church, Kilmacrenan (Kilmacrenan Ed), Co. Donegal

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Church, Kilmacrenan (Kilmacrenan Ed), Co. Donegal

The remnants of Kilmacrenan Old Church stand as a testament to centuries of religious life in County Donegal.

Built sometime after 1622, this church served its community through the 18th century, undergoing repairs and modifications as needed. The most notable addition was likely the tower, which architectural evidence suggests was constructed during this period of renewal. The church continued in use until the 1840s, when a new church was built nearby between 1840 and 1846, leading to the old building's abandonment and subsequent demolition in 1845.

Today, only fragmentary ruins remain of what was once a substantial structure measuring approximately 15.50 metres by 5.30 metres internally, with walls about a metre thick. The lower courses of the north, south and east walls survive, along with the lower section of the west gable. Against this gable stands a three-storey tower, its harled surface now covered in ivy and its ground floor converted into a burial vault. The bonding between the tower and the original church walls clearly indicates it was a later addition, most likely dating from the 18th-century improvements.

One intriguing aspect of the church's history involves a carved relief of a mitred head that was documented above the church door by various observers from the 1750s through to around 1920. This ecclesiastical carving was likely salvaged from the ruins of a Franciscan friary located just 100 metres to the northeast, representing a common practice of reusing decorative stonework from dissolved monastic sites. Though the church itself now lies largely in ruins, obscured by vegetation and structural collapse, it remains an important archaeological site that tells the story of religious continuity and change in rural Donegal.

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