Dunquin Old Church

Dunquin Church/An Teampall: There was a parish church here by the end of the 13th century (Cal Docs Ire, V, 297), but in 1615 the vicarage of Dunquin was 'waste voyde' (Royal Visitation), and the church was in ruins by 1756 (Smith, 69).

The present remains, situated in the graveyard at Dunquin, are those of a rubble-built, rectangular church which measured 12.2m x 6.1m externally (OSNB Dunquin, 29). Only the N wall, 2.69m in height x .9m thick, and attached sections of the E and W walls are visible. The remainder of the church is reduced to foundations or obscured by the overground tombs which completely fill the interior. A lintelled doorway in the N wall has rubble jambs, rebated internally for a door; the W jamb projects beyond the wall face externally and is returned as a shallow buttress. The W wall, 4.33m in length, preserves the remains of a rectangular window, .68 x 1.38m. The ope had a stepped lintelled head but the ingoings are largely rebuilt. No architectural features are preserved on the surviving section of the E gable and the exterior of the building has been plastered in modern times.

Inserted in the wall of the vestibule in the modern church at Dunquin is a stone with a circular depression, .26m in diameter and .15m deep. This may be the font which was visible at the E end of the old church in 1841 (OSNB) or it may have been removed from Ballywiheen church (local information). Apart from the church, the only features of interest in the graveyard are 2 grave-markers in the form of rough stone crosses.

In 2010 a graveyard survey carried out by Laurence Dunne recorded the following details: 'Dunquin Church and Graveyard is situated on the westernmost tip of the Dingle Peninsula, indeed the most western point of the landmass of Europe and consequently the most western Christian church and graveyard in Europe. It is 8.5km west from the village of Ventry and 15,25km from Dingle. Two crosses are also recorded in the RMP in the graveyard (KE052-014003-/004-), while a font (KE052-307----) from the medieval church is currently in the modern church of Dunquin that was built around 1857. Possibly the earliest record of the church at Dunquin is recorded in the Papal Taxation of 1302-06 in the Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland in which it records Church of Donetyn (Dunquin) Value £4, Tenth 8s (O’Sullivan 1931, 45-46, Cuppage). The Regal Visitation Book of 1633 records ‘Vicaradges of Dunquin and Marhin, John Philipps, minister, incumbent’ (Hickson 1872, 30). In 1756 Charles Smith records Dunqueen, vicarial, church in ruins. Patron: William Mullens Esq. Proxy. 5s., (Smith 1756, 38). In 1837 ‘... the ruins of the church still remain in the burial-ground’ (Lewis 1837, 483). The ruined church and graveyard of Dunquin was surveyed by John O’Donovan in 1841 ‘The old church of Dunquin is situated in a valley in the townland of Churchquarter; it was thirty-four feet nine inches long and thirteen feet ten inches broad, and its walls two foot ten inches thick, and built of hard green stone and clay cement. The two gables are destroyed nearly to the very foundations and there is a breach of fifteen feet to the north wall towards the east end, but the remaining part of the wall is standing to the height of seven feet. At the distance of three feet four inches from the east end there is on the south wall a small rectangular window measuring on the inside two feet four inches by one foot six inches, and the same on the outside, but it narrows towards the middle of the wall to four and a half inches. It is rudely formed of hammered stones. The doorway is on the north wall at the distance of eight feet six inches from the west end; it is rectangular at the top and measures on the inside five feet in height and four feet six inches in width and on the outside four feet ten inches by three feet one inch. This church stands in a small graveyard which is still in use’ (O’Donovan 1983, 93-94). A much shorter account of Dunquin is recorded in the OSNB by John O’Donovan in 1841 but interestingly records a Holy water font beside the E gable. This font (KE 052-307) is now in use in the vestibule of the modern church at Dunquin. O’Donovan also states in the OSNB that the church was in the ‘centre of the graveyard that is three chains long and two wide enclosed with a ditch’. He also gives the townland name of Carhoo Church Quarter (OSNB 1841).

The medieval ruined church and graveyard of Dunquin is situated on a fairly level platform on gently sloping ground in a narrow glen with an extensive maritime vista of the Blasket Islands, including An Blascaod Mór and Tearaght beyond. The current church, which dates to 1857, is situated immediately beside the old graveyard with a small but ample carpark between.

A coherent 11m section of the north elevation survives to full height (2.6m) including part of its stone soffit that extends from the north-west corner for 5m. A short 4m return section of the west gable also survives. Otherwise the limits of the church are completely reduced and the basal courses concealed beneath grass and unmarked lintelled graves.

The extant walls are generally constructed with small split sandstones bedded in lime mortar with several areas re-pointed or repaired with cement and are 0.75m in thickness.

The north elevation is pierced by a single doorway that is more or less entirely blocked up on the interior by burials. The 0.90m wide doorway is flat lintelled and 1.2m high and is supported by a wide buttress feature on its west side that was no doubt added to support the surviving wall from the outward weight of the much higher interior. On the exterior at the eastern end of the north elevation is a small carved stone of an emerging figure with raised arms-possibly depicting the crucifixion. It is most likely modern.

A little over 4m survives of the west gable and is pierced by a single flat lintelled window with stepped ingoings. The window, 0.58m wide x 1.32m high, is eccentrically positioned at the north side of the west gable and indeed looks more like a door than a window. This opening is also filled up on the inside. There are two prominent modern graves within the limits of the church, (182 and 183), as well as numerous unnamed headstones. The burials, the majority of which appear to be grass covered lintelled graves within the church are more or less up to the full height of the surviving 2.6m high walls. A prominent ‘High Cross’ type modern headstone (183) is precariously set alongside a partially collapsed grave within the old church' (Dunne 2010, 2-10).