Situated on a quiet rural single lane road surrounded by fields stands this early medieval church
dedicated to St Fintan. It is believed that St Fintan resided at an earlier church on this site before
moving on to found Clonenagh and that the current structure dates to around the 12 th century. The
initial church was an undivided structure and was only adapted in the later medieval period when a
two storey residential tower was built onto the west end of the church. The builders of the tower
were obviously not building to the same standard as only a small portion of this remains while the
earlier structure is still standing resolute. The original 12th century sandstone doorway located in the
western gable was rebuilt in the later medieval period when a second doorway was installed in the
wall at the first floor level. This gave access to the upper section of the tower from what would have
been a first floor or gallery of the church, this gallery/floor is evidenced by the putlog holes
which would have carried the timber joists that supported the upper floor.

The majority of the visible headstones date to the 18th to 20th centuries, the earliest inscribed stone
dating to 1737. The grave of an infamous Piper named Caoch O’Leary, who died in 1845, is situated
close to the church. His memory was kept alive by a poem written by a poet and ballad singer named
John Keegan from Shanahoe. John Keegan was educated in his uncle’s hedge school and captured a
period of Irish history that was no doubt tumultuous, with the famine, secret agrarian societies such
as the Whiteboys and uprisings. His earliest poems had been published in the Leinster Express and
he started growing in national esteem during the 1840s, moving to Dublin in 1847 and was associated
with many famous writers such as James Clarence Mangan. Unfortunately Keegan caught cholera
in 1849 and died aged forty, he was buried in a paupers grave in Glasnevin.
A pattern was held here and at the nearby holy well dedicated to St Fintan, which is situated to the
southwest of the graveyard, on February 17th .

GPS: 52.95917, -7.41425