Donaghpatrick-Church

Donaghpatrick Church

In Teltown, two miles north of Navan on land once occupied by one of St Patrick’s monasteries, sits Donaghpatrick Church built in 1896.

St Patrick’s success in spreading Christianity through Ireland had led to the first occasion of a Royal Chieftain of Ireland, Conall, brother of Laoghaire, letting himself be baptised, and the Irish royalty officially recognizing the ritual and the religion. Prince Conall made a gift of one of the earliest churches and monasteries in Ireland to St Patrick, on the site of his baptism.

After the Anglo-Norman invasion, Donaghpatrick became a parish church and the focal point of a flourishing riverside town. As time wore on though, the town was, according to the Diocese of Meath, ‘swept away, and the country converted into a vast sheepwalk’, and it eventually became necessary to rebuild the ancient church.

J.F. Fuller was the district architect of the time, since 1862, and Donaghpatrick Church is considered one of his best designs, which incorporates the original, medieval tower from St Patrick’s dilapidated church into the new structure. Much of the building material is from the original monastery, which enabled Fuller to keep the new church in a similar style to the replaced buildings by using the rock faced limestone and cut stone dressings.

The new church features pointed arch windows with a carved limestone tracery, that are filled with some of Heaton, Butler and Bayne’s best and most beautiful stained glass. The churchyard has become the final resting place for many of the local clergy from the nneighboring parishes, including The Rev. Augustine Chevers, Lord Bishop of Meath.

Geo-Coordinates:    Latitude: 53.696228     Longitude: -6.760056