Rossconnell Church is situated on the Kilkenny side of the Owenbeg River which is the boundary line between county Laois and Kilkenny. This Church is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and incorporates part of an Abbey Church dating to the 13th century. Reverend W. Carrigan in his ‘History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory’ (1905) states that between 1194 and 1224 William St. Leger granted to the Abbey of St. Thomas’ in Dublin, ‘six carucates of his land at Rosconin’ (Rossconnell), a carucate is based upon the area eight oxen could till in a single season, between 60 and 160 acres depending on the terrain. Carrigan went on to say that the parish of Rossconnell was not appropriated to St Thomas’ but that, ‘from the Red Book of Ossory it appears that its presentation was in the hands of the Bishops of the Diocese’. The church was destroyed at some stage during the 17th century and a memorial stone pays tribute to restoration work carried out on the church by Fr. Jacob Wale in 1646, unfortunately the church was again destroyed only 4 years later in 1650 by Cromwellian Forces. The church itself is quite the mish-mash of construction periods and styles, the windows in the chancel are believed to date to the 13th century, whereas the masonry at the east end of the north Wall is believed to be 15th century in date according to the National Monuments Service. There are also roughly opposing doorways into the chancel, unusual for a parish church, which may be from the time of the restoration work of Fr Jacob Wale in 1646. A lot of conservation took place at Rossconnell in the 1980s and the church and graveyard are well kept to this day. It is beautifully situated along the Owenbeg River and with lovely views leading up to the Castlecomer Plateau.
GPS: 52.85106, -7.32969