Kylebeg Church

In relatively flat marshland with view limited to the NE and SE. The church, which is aligned NE-SW, is centrally placed within a small graveyard (KK020-057002-). It is indicated on the Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Gowran in ‘The Parish of Blanchfeilds’ and on the Down Survey parish map in 'Blanshffeelds Kill' townland (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin). The terrier accompanying the parish map describes, ‘on that part of Blanchvillskill which belongeth to Blanchfeildstowne Parish the ruinous walls of a Church’ (ibid.). According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 413-14), this church, ‘locally known as the Church of Kylebeg, dates from before the Norman Invasion’ and was dedicated to St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. The church is located c. 600m NE of Blanchville Castle (KK020-056----) and Hewson (1893, 208) notes that Richard de Blanchville was parson of this church in 1289. Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 413) notes that in, ‘1320 Richard de Ledred, Bishop of Ossory, received faculties from the Pope, to give to fit persons the churches of Blaunchevileston and Deruach (Durrow), void by the cession of Peter de Blauncevilla and the Dean of Kilkenny, who held them as pluralists. Subsequently the Rectory of Blanchvilleskill was appropriated to the Abbey of Jerpoint’ (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 413). In 1396, ‘the abbot of Jerpoint acquired the parishes of The Rowyr and Blanchvileston’ (ibid., vol. 4, 289). Hewson (1893, 208) suggests that the chancel was the original church, with the nave been a later extension.

A rectangular nave (int. dims. 13.9m E-W x 6.8m N-S) and chancel (int. dims. 6.4m E-W x 5m N-S) church constructed of roughly coursed limestone and sandstone rubble, the walls bear traces of plaster rendering internally. The exterior is heavily overgrown in ivy. The church was entered in the nave via opposing doorways at the W end; a round-headed sandstone doorway (dims. 2.3m x 1m) in the N wall, and a smaller but similar doorway in the S wall. The nave was lit by opposing round-headed single-light windows at the E end of the N and S wall, with a small aumbry (max. dims. 0.53m x 0.4m) beneath each. There is a rectangular, single-light window in the apex of the W gable. The nave and chancel (int. dims. 6.4m E-W x 5m N-S) were divided by a chancel arch (Wth 2.85m), now broken through, though a number of sandstone voussoirs remain in situ. The chancel was lit by two round-headed sandstone single-light windows in the E gable, each set within a widely splaying embrasure, which meet in the middle. There is a round-headed single-light window in the S wall and a broken out window in the N wall. There is a piscina at the E end of the S wall and an aumbry at the E end of the N wall. The surviving architectural features suggest a 12th/13th-century date for this church.

A large 19th-century vault has been built in the NE angle of the chancel and there are two medieval graveslabs (KK020-057004-; KK020-057005-) near the E end of the S wall. Within the nave there is a baptismal font (KK020-057003-) against the N wall, immediately E of the doorway. There are also several 18th/19th-century headstones within the nave. Drennan (1955, 22-3) mentions a bronze cross, dated to the 17th century which was found hidden in the church in c. 1920, probably used for Masses which were reputedly held here during Penal times.