RAHAN MONASTIC SITE - Offaly County Council

3.0 PHYSICAL EVIDENCEPlate 34. Southwest view of small church.Plate 35. Beast-headedterminal of hood mouldingover west doorway.46Small Church (SMR No. OF016-015010)To the east of the Church of St Carthage are the remains of a small single-cell church, possiblydating from the later medieval period. Its external dimensions measure 11.8m east to west and6.95m north to south. This single-cell church retains a fine Romanesque west doorway thatappears to have been a later insertion into the gable. It now survives as a single ordered roundheadeddoorway, but originally was a doorway of three orders, of which the middle order survives(pers. comm. Dr Rachel Moss). Of the outer order, only the decorated bases survive. These basesare decorated with leaf-shaped spurs and curlingserpent-like motifs. The doorway with its squareshaped multi-scalloped capitals and beautiful archdecorated with opposing chevrons, palmettes andother foliate patterns adorning the triangularspaces outside the chevrons is similar in styleto the Nuns Chapel at Clonmacnoise. Over thisdoorway there is a hood moulding with delightfulHiberno-Romanesque style stops in the form offantastic mythical beasts that is also reminiscentof the west doorway in the Nuns Chapel. These monsters maysymbolise evil, and their placement over the entrance into achurch to hear the word of God represents salvation from theforces of evil. The doorway may have originated from the largerChurch of St Carthage being removed during one of its rebuildingprogrammes. 38 Other features of the church include a rectangularslit window directly over the west door, a round-headed singlelight window of twelfth century date at the west end of the southwall; and a single light ogee-headed window of fifteenth centurydate in the east end of the south wall. One of the spandrels of thislatter window is decorated with a four-legged animal with a birdsitting on top pecking the animals head and another pecking thehind leg. The other spandrel is decorated with a vine-leaf motif.In the east gable there is a single light ogee-headed window ofPlate 36. Overall view of west doorway.