Inishglora Island Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Site

At the E edge of Inishglora Island, bordering an eroding rocky shoreline.

This church, named ‘Teamplenafear Monastery’ (Men’s Church) on the 1838 and 1921 OS 6-inch maps, is a National Monument in state ownership (no. 99). It is one of three churches associated with an early medieval monastery traditionally said to have been founded on the island in the 6th century by St Brendan the Navigator: St Brendan’s Oratory (MA016-003006-) is located a few meters to NW and ‘Templenaman Nunnery’ or the Women’s church (MA016-0013009-), which no longer stands, is located c. 25m to SW.

This church is a simple rectangular building (int. 7.16m E−W; 3.12m N−S) of mortared stone. The cyclopean-style N and S walls, and a portion of the W wall, are still standing. The E end of the church perched above the rocky shoreline, has collapsed. There are no surviving windows and the position of the former doorway is unclear. The church was already ruined when visited by John O’Donovan in 1838 and he noted that the ‘the doorway is destroyed’ (O’Flanagan, 1927, 106 (204)). If the position of the doorway was then clear, he did not record it. Writing subsequently, the earl of Dunraven confirmed that there were no surviving windows and that the E wall was already missing at that time, and he referred to the church as Tempúl na Naomh (Stokes 1875, 42). Thomas J. Westropp (1904, 28) also recorded the traditional names of the church as Tempúl na Naomh and Teampall na bhFear.

The E wall retains remnants of its lowest courses at its N end, but the remainder of the wall and the SE angle of the church are missing. A substantial length (L 4.4m; H 1.9m; T 0.72m) of the S wall is extant, now leaning heavily to S. It has a rubble core faced internally and externally with roughly coursed large stone blocks. The E end of this wall is missing, except for three slabs on the ground that clearly represent remains of the stone plinth, which extends W beneath the standing wall. The SW angle of the church has collapsed, taking with it a section (L 1.2m) of the south wall. This was crudely rebuilt at some stage in the past in drystone masonry that is not tied into the standing wall. Westropp (1904, 28) implies that this may have been the site of the original doorway.

The N section (L 2.5m; T 0.9m; ext. H 2.4m) of the W wall is extant, but leans heavily to the W. The masonry differs from that visible in the N and S wall in being quite crudely coursed and comprising noticeably smaller stones, the majority of which are set horizontally rather than on edge. It is worth noting that the surviving masonry compares very favourably with a photograph taken in 1894 of the exterior of this wall (Jane Shackleton, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland).

The N wall (H 2m above plinth; T 0.66m) is relatively intact for its full length. The lower section comprises horizontal courses of large stones, above which is an irregular band of large angular stones set on edge, with small stones filling the frequent gaps between the large blocks. There is a gap (1.16m wide) at the W end of the wall, which is presently filled by an oil drum. The E side of this gap is not faced in such a way as to suggest the presence of a former doorway here; the W side is crudely faced, but this appears to be the result of secondary rebuilding and is unlikely to be original.

The church is enclosed by a graveyard (MA016-003017-), and burials have taken place within the church interior. These are marked by low upright, uninscribed stones, with a low cairn (diam. c. 1m) of loosely piled stones in the NE quadrant.