St Kieran’s Church at Modreeny in North Tipperary is a classic ‘Board of First Fruits’ Church of Ireland structure built in 1828. The west gable of a medieval church stands beside the tower end of the later structure. A church is recorded at this site in 1302 as part of the ecclesiastical taxation of the Diocese of Killaloe in 1302. The Ormond Historical Society recorded in 1984 that the old church at St Kieran’s had been, ‘designated a special place of pilgrimage by Pope Paul V in 1607’ but fail to elaborate why this was the case. By 1615 it appears this church was already falling into a state of disrepair as the Royal Visitation described the building as, ‘chancel up, church down’. There are several graves that have been inserted to stand in the shadow of this old gable wall and it cuts and unusual sight being so close to the 19th century structure. St Kieran’s closed its doors for the last time in 1987 but interestingly a lot of the old wall memorials remain within the structure.

GPS: 52.95699, -8.06687