Clone Church

Situated on a slight knoll on a gentle N-facing slope, with a S-N section of a small stream in its valley c. 50m to the E, and c. 700m from where the stream joins the NE-SW River Bann. This is the site of an early monastery and the Romanesque parish church of Clone within a D-shaped graveyard (dims. c. 40m E-W; c. 30m N-S) defined by masonry walls that were built with stones taken from the church (Anon 1889, 9). The name is derived from Cluain – a meadow, but no saint is identified with it. According to a Visitation by Thomas Ram, the Protestant bishop of Ferns, in 1615 David Browne was the old priest, John Lacy the curate, and the church and chancel were in repair (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 266, 273).

There is local knowledge of lintelled graves being found S of the graveyard in ploughing. The W gable and the W part of the S wall of what was probably a single-cell church survive to the roof level; elsewhere rebuilt walls (H c. 1.5m) define the structure (ext. dims 16.95m E–W; 8.3m N–S), but the original E wall was never visible. During the summer of 2018 a drone-mounted camera operated by Dinny Kinsella enabled Barry Lacey to record part of the ecclesiastical enclosure (WX015-023013-) (diam. c. 180m NW-SE) as the cropmark of two parallel fosse features extending from the stream E of the graveyard, curving S and joining the curve of the road SW of the graveyard. The road and a curving field boundary further N complete three quarters of a circle backing onto the valley of the stream.

The lintelled W doorway of the church is battered (H 2.2m; Wth 0.85-0.95m) and there is an elaborate architrave projecting externally (Wth 2m) with chevrons on the outer moulding. The doorway may have been round-headed originally or had a tympanum that fitted under a relieving arch over the lintel (Du Noyer sketch, 1868). Seven heads and a stone with dogtooth decoration adorn the outer face of the W wall over the doorway only since repairs conducted in 1956 (Shine et al 2020, 25-6). A collapse of much of the outer face at the W end of the S wall occurred in March 2016 but is being repaired since 2018.

Two cross-slabs, a sundial and two bullaun stones were in the graveyard. A third cross-slab (WX015-024----) that was on a mound c. 40m to the SE of church was moved to the graveyard, but it has not been seen for some years. The sundial and one of the graveyard cross-slabs have been moved to an OPW store at Tintern abbey (ME045-027001-) for safe-keeping. Just S of the doorway is a cross-slab (H 0.33m; Wth 0.2m; T 0.5m) that has been cut back but had a Maltese cross. At the SW angle of the church was a cross-slab (H 0.58m; Wth 0.5m; T 0.1m) with a Maltese cross in a circle that is now in Tintern. Just N of the doorway is a bullaun stone (dims. 0.85m x 0.46m; H 0.2m) with a single basin (diam. 0.33m; D 0.17m) and just NW of the church is a fragment of another bullaun stone (dims. 0.7m x 0.5m; T 0.15m) with portion of a single basin (diam. 0.25m). The sundial (H 1.18m; Wth of shaft 0.29m; T 0.11m) has a semicircular head (diam. 0.5m) and was at one time with the cross-slab outside the graveyard (WX015-024----) (Ffrench 1895, 407) but it is now at Tintern. A socket for the sundial (Kinahan 1883-4, 39) is now missing.

All the decorated stones of the church building are in a green stone. The embrasure of a Romanesque window, probably from this church, is now at St Peter's church (WX015-003005-) in Ferns, and a face corbel from the church is now at St Mogue's Well (WX015-003002-) in Ferns. (Kinahan 1883-4; Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 584-8)

About 5m W of the church doorway a grave-marker (WX015-023014-) (dims 0.54m x 0.18m) with a rough point on top (H 0.82m) has a lightly pecked curvilinear design on its E face occupying most of the stone. It consists of at least four arcs of closely-spaced lines curving up one side of the stone, around the top and down the other side in an oval pattern that is not closed visibly above the ground. It is undoubtedly prehistoric, and most resembles passage tomb art.

Archaeological testing (00E0571) c. 150m to the NW of the church produced no archaeological material (Gregory 2002) and testing (02E0410) c. 100m to the NW had a similar result (McLoughlin 2006), but testing (06E0287) c. 100m to the NE on the other side of the stream produced evidence of a burnt mound (WX015-023009-) and other features (WX015-023010-) (McLoughlin 2009). On the SW side of the stream and c. 50m to the NW of the church isolated features, including two ditches (Wth 1.3m; 2.3m), burnt spreads, and pits with charcoal and slag were recorded (McLoughlin 2006a, 6-7). The larger ditch could relate to the outer ecclesiastical enclosure (WX015-023013-).

This is a National Monument in state ownership: No. 665.