Clone Church

The 13^th century Romanesque church of Clone was in repair in 1615 when the then bishop of Ferns, Thomas Ram, made a visitation. It is noted that David Browne was the priest and John Lacy the curate. The lintelled church doorway has elaborate architraves (moulding that sits around a doorway frame) with chevrons on the outer moulding. On the outer face of the west wall are seven heads and one dogtooth decoration on stone. All the decorated stones are green stone. St. Peter’s Church in Ferns is the likely recipient of the Romanesque window missing from Clone Church.

To the south of the doorway is a cross-slab with a Maltese cross. A bullaun stone is found within the church, while another partial stone is found outside it. A sundial and a cross-slab, originally at Clone Church, have been removed by the OPW to Tintern Abbey. The cross-slab, with a height of 0.58m, is inscribed with a Maltese cross in a circle. The sundial, which is 1.18m in height, has a semi-circular head with its socket missing. Another cross-slab is held in the OPW depot in Kilkenny, again with an incised Maltese cross in a circle.

The surrounding graveyard holds an example of prehistoric passage tomb art. This grave-marker has a lightly pecked curvilinear design covering most of the stone. It consists of four arcs of closely-spaced lines going up, around and down the stone in an oval pattern. It is located 5m west of the Romanesque doorway of Clone Church.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014