The Oldest Stone Church of Ireland

St. Mary's church, Duleek in Co. Meath/Ireland

On a misty morning we started our tour from Navan to do some duties and then to see the oldest stone church of Ireland at Duleek in County Meath.

I have been here several times in the past but my friend never was and so I wanted to show the place.

The name Duleek comes from the Irish Daimh Liag which means simply stone building, referring to the first church made with stones.

Just in this place around 450 AD St. Patrick established a bishopric in the care of St. Cianan in the end of 489. Having rich lands around and monks who knew about economy it was sacked several times by the Norsemen and later the Anglo-Normans. The place got highly known in April 1014 when the bodies of Brian Borù and his son lay in state here before being transferred to Amagh.

In the 12th century the place was reconstructed to the St. Mary’s Abbey. Hugh de Lacy – he was the first Anglo-Norman lord of Meath – built a motte castle and a manor in Duleek. St. Mary’s Abbey was granted to the Augustinian monks.

Today the relatively small ground has a huge number of crosses and graves and of course the remainings of the church and a high tower. The massive square tower was once built at the side of a round tower and was for living (the prior maybe).

The Celtic high crosses are beautiful and remind me a lot about Monasterboice. Think they are from the 10th century as well.

In the churchyard there are the tombs of Dr Cusack, Bishop of Meath from 1679 to 1688, and Lord Bellew, killed in the battle of Aughrim the same century.

The east window is impressive like many church windows of these ancient times. It is a post-Gothic replacement of the late 16th century.

Spectacular in a certain way is the Catholic church which ‘houses’ a restaurant. I knew this church restaurant from the first time I came here back in 2007 but I never saw it open. This time I was lucky and it was open for the weekends and my friend took the telephone number to book a table for Sunday. But that is another story…