| Liathmore Churches | |||||||
| Native Name: | Teampaill an Liath Mór | ||||||
| Native Name Lang: | ga | ||||||
| Pushpin Map: | Ireland | ||||||
| Relief: | yes | ||||||
| Coordinates: | 52.6706°N -7.6686°W | ||||||
| Country: | Ireland | ||||||
| Denomination: | Church of Ireland | ||||||
| Previous Denomination: | Catholic | ||||||
| Founded Date: | 12th century | ||||||
| Functional Status: | inactive | ||||||
| Embedded: |
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| Materials: | stone | ||||||
| Diocese: | Cashel and Emly | ||||||
Liathmore Churches are two medieval churches forming a National Monument in County Tipperary, Ireland.
Liathmore Churches are located 2.8 km (1.8 mi) east of Two-Mile Borris.
St Mochoemog (d. 655) founded the monastery here. There are two churches and the footings of a round tower.[1]
The smaller church is the earlier and dates to the early medieval period; the larger church is late medieval and was begun in the 12th century, and contains a number of tombs.[2]
The sheela-na-gig is located on the left hand side of a Romanesque doorway belonging to the larger of the two churches.[3]
The larger church: nave is 41'4" x 18'8" (12.6 x 5.7 m), and the chancel 26'9" x 16'2" (8.2 x 4.9 m). It was originally a single-chamber church with antae at the east end.[4]
The circular foundation proved to be the base of an Irish round tower. As there is no historical record or oral tradition of a tower here it is thought that it must have fallen, and its stones removed, sometime before 1500. The diameter was 15 ft. 6in. (4.7 m).[5]