St Paul’s Kiltoom, Roscommon, Ireland

There has been a church on this site at Kiltoom since 1431 but the present ruin is of far later construction. There appears to be two dates given for its foundation, some sources state 1836 and others 1869, what is known is that it was designed by Joseph Welland, an architect who designed many of the Board of First Fruits churches in Ireland. Welland died in 1860 which leads me to believe that the earlier date could be correct unless it was built posthumously to his design. The ruination of this rectangular church appears to have been greatly worsened by the destruction of its roof which must have only happened in the past five years as photos from as late as 2013 show it being still intact. The church was in use until the early 1940s when the Church of Ireland congregation dwindled in the area. The graveyard contains modern day burials and others that predate the church, the graves of members of the Hodson family, who held much of the land locally in the 18th and 19th centuries, can still be seen.

GPS: 53.47155, -8.01894

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