Coolcashin Church

On a gentle E-facing slope, just below the crest of a hill, in rolling grassland, c. 50m NE of a stream which flows into a river c. 400m to the E. On the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map the church, orientated E-W, is built along the straight N side of the roughly D-shaped graveyard (KK009-019002-). According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 333-4) the Four Masters record the burning of Cul-Caissin in 844 and 1157. Two cross-slab (KK009-019009-; KK009-019010-) fragments, dating from the 8th-10th century, from this graveyard confirms an early date for this foundation. The OS Letters (1839) describe the church as lying in ruins, 'small portions of the western gable and south side only remain. It was about thirty feet [c. 9m] long and twenty [6m] wide, the walls three feet [c. 0.9m] thick, the stones large and set in a strong bed of lime and gravel' (O'Flanagan ed. 1930, vol. 1, 100-1 (34)). Portion of the lower courses of the W gable and the W end of the N wall (H c. 1m) are evident. There are numerous architectural fragments in the graveyard. Also within the graveyard are two 13th/14th-century graveslab fragments (KK009-019003-; KK009-019006-) which have been reused as grave-markers. There is a holy well (KK009-019007-) 18m W of the NW angle of graveyard. Within the field, immediately N, E and W of the graveyard there are earthworks indicative of a medieval settlement (KK009-019004-).