Bayswell Church

On the summit of a N-S ridge overlooking lower land to the E and W, in rolling pasture. The church is located in the NW angle of the graveyard, the graveyard wall running up to the N end of the E gable and the W end of the S wall. According to the OS Letters (1839) the church is known as 'Teampall na Ratha' or the church of the rath, probably in reference to the ringfort (KK008-142----) 30m N of the church (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 116-17 (39)). At time of inspection in 1987 the interior of the church was overgrown with trees and the walls were obscured by ivy. It is rectangular in plan (int. dims. 5.9m N-S; 14.2m E-W; ext. dims. 7.3m N-S; 15.6m E-W; wall T 0.7m), aligned E-W, built of roughly cut, coursed masonry. There is a window in the E gable and a niche, probably for a piscina, at the E end of the S wall. The OS Letters (ibid.) provide additional information describing, 'a broken doorway in the south side ten feet [c. 3m] from western gable; there is a window in each side at eight feet six inches [c. 2.6m] from east gable, three feet three inches [c. 1m] wide inside, broken at top and outside. There is a broken topped window in the east gable five feet [c. 1.5m] wide, ten feet [c. 3m] high to the springing of the arch inside; eight feet [c. 2.4m] high and nine inches [0.23m] wide on the outside. The arch has disappeared excepting the first stone'. Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 300-302) mentions that the 'gables are fallen to a level with the side-walls' and that, 'Corbels for the support of a gallery project at the west end'. Associated with the church and graveyard (KK008-006002-) is a font (KK008-006003-), a graveslab (KK008-006004-) and a leacht (KK008-006-005-).