St Caillín's Church, Fenagh

Situated on a local rise at the N and E edge of a plateau with rock outcrop. Traditionally, a church was established here by St Caillín in the 6th century after the saint had transformed local druids into stones, and Aodh Finn, son of Feargna of the Uí Briuin Breifne, granted his own cashel to Caillín. The saints’ life is recorded in the Book of Fenagh, which is now in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. This was copied in 1516 from the Book of St. Caillín, which was written c. 1350-1400 and is now missing (Hynes 1931, 43-4; Cunningham 2019, 225-28), but it may have been contained in St Caillín’s shrine (Murphy 1892). This book shrine, together with the shrine of St. Caillín’s Bell, was held at St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford town, and both were damaged in the fire at Christmas 2009. The detail of the saint’s life in the Book of Fenagh is unreliable (Ó Riain 2011, 135-6), but according to this source he was descended from the Conmaicne Cúile Tolad around Dunmore, Co. Galway, and he amassed an enviable collection of relics on a visit to Rome. (MacNamee 1954, 112-20)

The church at Fenagh (Fidnach or Fiodhnach, meaning wooded) became the principal ecclesiastical centre of the O’Rourkes’ but they never seem to have dominated it, and the church continued into the later Middle Ages under its own Rule (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 36). The earliest reference to the termon is in 1125 when a Viking raid was foiled (Hennessy 1875, Bk Fen, 44). The coarbs, or successors who were generally from the O'Rodachain or Roddy family, are first mentioned in 1244 when the church was described as roofless. The coarbs of Fenagh were required to attend the inaugurations of the O’Conor chiefs (O’Daly 1853, 341) at Carnfree (RO028-069003-). The names of some of the coarbs are recorded from 1331 to 1532, and the church was accidently burnt in 1360, after which the present structure might have been built (Hynes 1931, 45-8). The lands, reckoned as ‘nine quarters’ were transferred to the Protestant bishop of Ardagh in 1585 (Pinkman 1942, 45), but the O Rodaighe, renowned scholars, continued at Crossfield (now Aroddy?) until 1706 at least (ibid.).

The two churches are marked on the Down Survey (1656-8) maps of Leitrim barony and both appear to be roofless, with some other derelict structures in attendance. Later in the century the principal church could have been refurbished for Protestant worship, which function it continued to serve until the nearby Church of Ireland church of St. Catherine was built c. 1800 (Lewis 1837, vol. 1, 617). The latter closed in 1974 but has been lovingly restored and was re-dedicated in 2017. The archaeological remains consist of complex earthworks around the principal church and its graveyard, including an ecclesiastical enclosure, a road and fields, and a second church c. 130m to the NE.

The earthworks cover an area of about 15 ha (c. 60 acres) and are protected by a Preservation Order (No. 3/1994). They consist of grass-covered earth and stone banks (Wth 4-6m; H 0.5-1m) which form a roughly circular ecclesiastical enclosure (diam. c. 110m) around the principal church, which is undoubtedly the site of the original church. There are other earthworks outside this forming irregularly shaped fields, while a roadway approaches the ecclesiastical enclosure from the N (L c. 90m). The road appears to run directly to the W doorway of the church, and is probably late in date. It re-emerges from the S angle of the old graveyard and extends S (L c. 50m). Most of the earthworks are possibly early medieval in date and are best appreciated from the air (Norman and St Joseph 1969, 109-10).

The medieval church and the rectangular graveyards are imposed on the curvilinear earthworks. The church survives complete as an undifferentiated structure (int. dims c. 26m E-W; c. 7m N-S) with dressed quoins, and a barrel vault at the W end which probably supported a defensive residential tower. The church has a pointed W doorway and an inserted doorway in the S wall. The large E window with 15th-century tracery consists of four cusped ogee-headed lights below a rosette (Leask 1960, vol. 2, 148-9). Three stone heads decorate the hood moulding of the E window, and there are face-corbels at each angle of the church, facing either N or S. Externally, the E wall has a battered plinth, and a string-course, decorated with a rabbit on the N wall, runs beneath the E window. Internally, there is a piscine and a double sedilia in the S wall at the E end.

A small roofless chapel or mausoleum (ext. dims 5.05m E-W; 3.45m N-S) of the O’Duignans of Castlefore (LE024-053----) abuts the W end of the S wall of the church, but the doorway in its W wall is destroyed. There is a single light in the E wall, and the O'Duignan commemorative plaque (LE025-096007-) dated 1671 with a Latin inscription is on the exterior of its S wall. The church is at the N edge of a rectangular graveyard (dims c. 50-55m NW-SE; c. 50m NE-SW) defined by masonry walls, with headstones dating from c. 1760 to the present. The graveyard has been extended to the SW (dims c. 45m NE-SW; c. 40m NW-SE). A second church (LE025-096002-) is c. 130m to the NE. The churches and the earthworks at Fenagh are National Monuments (Harbison 1996, 212).

Archaeological monitoring (01E0160) of a sewage trench through the village and an electrical line (01E0626) to the church lighting failed to produce any related material (Read 2003, 2003a). Archaeological testing (01E0159) of road-widening on a 240m length of road through the field system c. 60m W of the church exposed the walls as spreads (Wth up to 8m) of smaller stones over larger (original Wth of walls 2-3m), and a stone-covered surface but no dating material was recovered (Read 2003b, 2006).