Kiltinan Church

On the crest of a N-S ridge, at the S end, in undulating terrain in pasture. The church was roughly centrally placed within the medieval village (TS070-101----). Kiltinan Castle (TS070-101004-) is visible c. 270m to the E. A sheela-na-gig (TS070-101003-) on a SW quoin was robbed from this church. The rectangular graveyard (TS070-101002-) extends southward from the church. There are two medieval graveslabs (TS070-101008-; TS070-101009-) within the chancel area and a 17th-century graveslab (TS070-101010-) within the graveyard. The N wall of the church is built directly onto bedrock; immediately N of this the bedrock has been quarried out and a roadway built. In c. 1195 the church was granted by Robert, Bishop of Waterford, to the Augustinian canons of St. Mary’s Abbey, Osney in Oxfordshire, England (Curtis 1932, 7). This was reaffirmed in 1220 and c. 1230 (ibid. 24, 37). Kiltinan church is mentioned in the Papal Taxation Records of c. 1302 and c. 1306 and in the Register of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist without the New Gate, Dublin in 1316, also an Augustinian foundation (Ó Cearbhaill 2007, 245-5). This is an unusual church with a residential tower between the nave and chancel. The doorways and windows are largely limestone, the former pointed or round-headed and the latter ogee or round-headed, with punch-tooling within drafted margins indicating a 16th-century date. The chancel survives as a roof scar, with a 60° pitch, on the external E face of the tower. Only the NW angle and a short portion of the N wall (L 11m; H 1.4m) survive, the N wall extends eastward beyond the N wall of the tower and has a base-batter (H 1.4m; Wth 0.12m). The S wall of the chancel is indicated by tie-stones projecting from the S end of the E face of the tower. In the W wall of the chancel, between the tower and the N wall, there is a round-headed window which an embrasure which splays towards the exterior, it appears to have been serving a building which ran N-S northward from the tower, indicated by a surviving length of E wall (L 2.7m; T 1m) containing this window, which provided a view into the chancel. The tower (int. dims. 4.47m N-S; 3.06m E-W; T 1.22m) has a base-batter at the NW angle (H 1.17m; Wth 0.12m). At ground level the N end of the tower provides a through passage from nave to chancel with round-arched openings in the E (H 1.76m; Wth 1.95m) and W (H 2.12m; Wth 2m) walls of the tower, both appear to be original. The ground floor of the tower has three loops, a cruciform loop in the E wall within a straight-sided embrasure, a single-light ogee-headed window in the S wall and another in the W wall. This latter window is sandstone and appears to be earlier in date, possibly 14th century, within an embrasure which splays towards the nave which is an odd arrangement and may be a rebuild. The first floor of the tower was accessed from a wooden stairs or ladder from the ground floor or from the chancel via a stair up to a round-headed doorway in the E wall of the tower. The storeys above this were then accessed from the first floor via a flat-headed doorway at the S end of the E wall, leading to a mural stair rising in the E wall. The first floor of the tower was lit by a single-light ogee-headed window in the S wall. It had a wooden floor which was carried on corbels in the E and W walls. The second and third floors were supported on floor-beams, the holes for which are visible in the E and W walls. The second floor was accessed from a flat-headed doorway at the N end of the E wall. Opposite the doorway, in the stairwell, there is a loop. The second floor was lit by a single-light ogee-headed window in the S wall. At second floor level the stair turns at the NE angle and continues to rise in the thickness of the N wall (total T 1.3m). The stair is lit by a loop at the E end of the N wall. The third floor was accessed from a doorway, which does not survive, in the N wall. It was lit by a two-light ogee-headed window in the S wall. There appear to be a number of wall cupboards in the third-floor chamber, two in the W wall and one in the E wall. There is a possible fireplace at the E end of the S wall. Externally, on the N face, there is a string-course between second and third-floor level. The nave (ext. dims. 8.6m N-S; 13.87m E-W) has been built up against the pre-existing tower. The S wall of the nave extends southward in line with the S wall of the tower while the N wall projects beyond the N wall of the tower. It has two roughly opposing pointed doorways towards the W end in the N (wall T 1.17m) and S walls (H 3.35m; T 0.86m) and is lit by a two-light round-headed window in the W gable (H c. 5m) and an ogee-headed single-light window at the E end of the N and S walls. The masonry has been repointed and features have been reconstructed or repaired, with modern work being sometimes indicated by a plastic layer. This is a multi-period church which dates to the late 12th century. It is possible that the church originally extended eastward from the tower, which would conform to a more usual plan type, with a W-end tower, and the roof scar in the E wall of the tower could be that of the nave. The present 'nave' could represent a Reformation church constructed in the 16th century, at which time the tower was modified and re-fenestrated and possibly a building to the N of the tower was erected. Some masonry with diagonal tooling from an earlier phase has been re-used in the nave and the sandstone window in the W wall of the tower pre-dates the 16th-century rebuild.