Church, Macroney, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Churches & Chapels

Church, Macroney, Co. Cork

Inside the overgrown graveyard at Macroney, a set of corbels, small stone brackets projecting from the wall face, sit at roughly chest height along what remains of the interior walls.

They almost certainly once supported a loft, suggesting that at some point this modest rectangular building had a more complex interior life than its rough sandstone rubble construction might imply. The church measures around 17 metres east to west and just over 8 metres north to south, and despite being heavily overgrown and in poor structural condition, enough survives to make out the careful detailing of its better moments: chamfered sandstone surrounds on the twin-light east window, an ogee-headed light in the south wall (the ogee being a shallow S-curved arch associated with late medieval craftsmanship), and a doorway with cut-sandstone chamfering, now largely collapsed.

The parish church of Macroney has a recorded history stretching back to at least 1291, when it appeared in the Papal Taxation, a Europe-wide survey of church property commissioned by Pope Nicholas IV to fund a crusade. By 1615 it was still reported as being in repair, which places its active life well into the post-medieval period. Sometime between then and 1774, the building fell into the ruin it remains today. The east gable survives to its full height and retains what appears to be a blocked second window, larger than the surviving one and positioned higher in the gable wall; a scholar named Power noted its existence in 1932, though ivy has since obscured the area entirely. The north wall has a two-metre gap directly opposite the main doorway, possibly a deliberate opposing opening, and the west gable still holds a splayed window embrasure about three metres above ground, its light hidden behind vegetation.

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, Macroney, Co. Cork. 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