Kilrush Church

National monument No. 366. Well preserved ruins of small pre-Norman Kilrush Church (int. dims. 4.15m N-S; 7.55m E-W; Wall T 0.85m) reputedly founded by Rose who was the sister of St. Munchin (Ó Carragáin 2010, 312; Lenihan 1866, 542-3). The church is known locally as Old Church and/or St Munchin's Church and now stands in the centre of a small housing estate accessed off the Old Church Road. Kilrush Church is located in St. Munchin's parish in the Diocese of Limerick. It stands 155m N of the River Shannon and 2km SW of Thomond Bridge and Limerick City. Listed as 'Kilrussee [Kilrush?], near Limerick' in the 1302 Ecclesiastical Taxation of Limerick Diocese where it is valued at 10s per annum (Cal Doc Ire, 290). The church name is variously listed as Kellros, Kelleroisse and Kylros in the Black Book of Limerick (McCaffrey 1907, 26, 28, 156, 168). On the first ed. OS 6-inch map, Kilrush [Kellros] Church is depicted standing in E quadrant of graveyard (LI005-009001-) with Kilrush Cottage immediately to S.

Church described by Westropp (1904-5, 363-4) as a 'very early Irish oratory stands in the grounds of Oldchurch the west door has inclined jambs, and a massive lintel; the east window has a circular head and splay arch. A curious window, with an obscure inscription of the Quinlivans, is set in the south wall; this was brought (as already stated) from St, Mary's Lane, preserved by the late Robert Vere O'Brien'. Harbison (1970, 152) described Kilrush Church as following; 'The church is first mentioned in 1201, but is undoubtedly older, and was incorporated into the north Liberties of the city. It is small and rectangular, with a flat headed doorway, and a round-headed east window. In the south wall is a 15th century window with an obscure inscription of the Quinlivans which was removed from a Franciscan church in St Mary's Lane and preserved for a time by Robert Vere O'Brien before being inserted here probably around 1900'.

The church was later described in the Urban Survey (Bradley et. al. 1989, 339) as following: 'This small Early Christian church is situated on the west side of the Shannon off the North Circular Rd. It is a rectangular building 5.85m north-south by 9.25m east-west and the walls and gables are almost intact. The east wall has a simple round headed window; the west wall has a flat lintelled door with a single large lintel while the south wall has an inserted rectangular window (H.61cm W.43cm) which is said to have been taken from the Franciscan Friary (LI005-079---) in the city. It has chamfered limestone jambs and holes for glazing bars and the sides and top have a Gothic lettered inscription in false relief'.

Present remains consist of a small single-cell church with walls built of large well coursed rubble standing on a protruding plinth. The church was entered through a flat-headed trabeate doorway located in centre of W gable. A round headed single light window set into a semi-circular arched embrasure with stepped sill is located in the centre of the E gable. A late medieval flat headed window with gothic inscription running around the chamfered jambs has been inserted into the E end of the S wall in the early 1900s. This window was taken from Franciscan church (LI005-079---) in St Mary's Lane. A blocked up doorway is visible at W end of N wall. This doorway was inserted into the N wall of the church possibly in the post 1700 period with evidence of redbrick at base of blocked opening on internal face of N wall. The W gable is propped up with a modern brick and concrete flying buttress. No surface remains of surrounding graveyard (LI005-009001-) which is now occupied by a modern housing estate. In 1980 prior to the construction of the housing estate six excavation trenches were opened by Larry Walsh, former curator of Limerick Museum, on the footprint of the development in an attempt to identify the extent of the graveyard (LI009-005001-) at Kilrush. The excavation uncovered the remains of 39 burials the majority of which were located in Trench 1 on the S side of the church close to the Quinlivan window. A high percentage of these burials (40.5% belonged to infants suggesting the presence of a children's burial ground (LI005-009002-) probably dating from the post-medieval period (Donnelly and Murphy 2008, 2003; Lynch 1998, 110).

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 56/1937).