Oughter Ard Church

Near the centre of a graveyard (KD015-007004-) which also contains a round tower (KD015-007003-) and which may occupy the site of an early monastery (KD015-007002-). The surviving remains consist of the lower portions of the walls of a 12th century, or possibly earlier, nave (int. dims. L 11m E-W; Wth 5m) abutted at the E end by a large, barrel-vaulted chancel (int. dims L c. 10.5m E-W; Wth c. 4.8m) accessed through a chancel arch of tufa. This arch was subsequently blocked-up and a square-headed, granite doorway was inserted into it: a small, rectangular stairs-turret against the chancel's S wall may have been erected around the same time. The nave is built of large blocks of roughly coursed limestone masonry, but a granite quoin at NE may be original (pers. comm. T. O'Carragáin). The original entrance is not identifiable, but a sketch by Cooper shows a porch on the S wall, near its W end, while the N wall contains a blocked, round-arched doorway near its centre. A modern entrance in the S wall now gives access. The nave was lit by a narrow, round-headed window with a chamfered granite arch in the W gable wall, and there are traces of a window-splay and tufa jambs towards the E end of the S wall. The W gable is surmounted by the remains of bell cote. The chancel built is of split, uncoursed limestone rocks and, with its barrel-vaulted ground floor, may have been constructed as a semi-fortified tower. It is lit by three narrow opes in the N wall, each with a rear splay, a large, triple-light, square-headed window in the E gable, which is probably a later insertion, and two opes in the S wall, towards each end, opposing two of the opes in the N wall. Two window fragments lie in the chancel, one granite, the second limestone. The now destroyed upper levels above the chancel were accessed via an external spiral stairs housed in a small projecting tower abutting the S wall. The church and nearby round tower are National Monuments (No. 190) in State ownership. (Bradley et al. 1986 vol. 4, 405-7; Harbison 1992, 192)