Above Image: Plan of the ruins
The remains of this medieval church lie in a walled enclosure in pastureland and are accessed by a roadside gate on the R122 at St. Margaret's, a small community in a pastoral location behind the runways of Dublin airport. A short lane winds from the road bypassing a work yard and a farm residence and leads to the pillared gates of the cemetery wall designed around the old ruins and opened in 1930. It took a few minutes to work out the layout of the ruins within but I think I finally figured them out.
What greets you initially are the walls of a chantry chapel built by Sir John Plunkett of Dunsoghly (1497-1582) who was Lord Chief Justice from 1559 until his demise in 1582. The chapel is attached to what was the South-Eastern side of the old church. Little remains now of the church itself bar a section of the East wall (which has had some later re-building) and partial remains of the South, West and North walls with the foundations of a tower at the Northwest corner. Sadly a lot of overgrowth is now present which almost disguises the presence of this section.
The church is thought to date from the 12th century and was built on the site of an earlier structure of which nothing remains today. It looks, judging by what foundations that are extant, to have been a sizeable structure. It would have served the local community along with its near neighbour Chapelmidway (see earlier post here) and is recorded to have fallen into ruin in the first half of the 17th century.
The graveyard is also the site of two large mausoleums. One is attached to the South-East corner of the chantry chapel and was built in the 19th century. It is distinctly seperate in design from the other adjacent ruins. A separate mausoleum stands isolated at the South of the graveyard opposite the chantry mausoleum. It was built in the 18th century for the Morgan family and is quite classical in design. It has an open doorway and it too like the chapel is roofless.
The chantry chapel (a name given to a chapel funded by wealthy patrons) has all four walls standing to nearly full height and is the dominant feature in the graveyard. The entrance door is in the form of an archway with decorative stonework otherwise the exterior and interior are basically featureless.
The graveyard, a rather ancient looking site, is dotted with among others some Celtic cross markers, a table tomb and numerous guano covered indecipherable stones.It may still be in use as there is quite a lot of space left but I didn't spot any gravestones dated later than the 20th century. The grass is cut but there is some vegetation present on the mausoleums. Its close proximity to a farmyard yields the frequent honking of Geese but otherwise it is a very placid spot and is I believe due to be the subject of some conservation work in the near future.
To find the ruins take the junction 5 exit for Finglas from the M50 onto the N2. Once on the N2 drive approx 500m and take the exit left for Coldwinters. This leads to a T-junction where you turn right and drive 1.4KM to Kilshane Crossroads. Turn right here and drive to the next roundabout where you turn left onto the R122. Drive on for approx 1.2KM taking the second left hand turn signposted for the R122 to St Margaret's. At the T-junction at the bottom of this short road turn right and approx 30m along you will see a stone pillared metal gate on your left opposite a white bungalow and a farmyard to the right. You can park at the gate but be sure not to block the farmyard entrance.
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