RAHAN MONASTIC SITE - Offaly County Council

3.0 PHYSICAL EVIDENCESuggested Building Works for the Church of St CarthageFrom a close examination of the surviving building fabric — together with the extensive archive ofpublished and unpublished accounts that exist on the church of St Carthage — a summary of buildingphases can be conjectured as follows:12th centuryn Chancel constructed with stone roof, croft, mural stairs, chancelwings (flanking porticus / side-chapels), chancel arch and roundwindow. Originally this Romanesque church had a nave whichmay have been narrower than the present nave. The walls of thenave may date from anytime between the twelfth to the fifteenthcentury. This stone church may have been built after one of thefires recorded in the annals around 1131 and 1139.Plate 27. RoundRomanesque window13th centuryn Large, internal east window inserted, rendering mural stairsand original stone vault redundant. Vault removed making croftredundant.Plate 28. East window15th centuryn North chancel side-chapel enlarged and vault over side-chapelinserted.n Nave may have been modified.n Insertion of wicker-centred vault over chancel.n Possible insertion of circular window in apex of east gable.Plate 29. Chamfer stopof west doorwayn Single light ogee-headed window belongs to fifteenth centurynave.17th centuryn Church briefly abandoned and wasted c. 1640. In 1696, theroof of the nave was removed and reused at the nearby churchin Lynally.Figure 32. 17th centurymap44