Thursday, 9 August 2012

Tamlaght O' Crilly "Lower" Church (St. Nossonus)

Tanlaght O'Crilly Lower Church is five kilometres to the east of the Upper Church, in the village of Inishrush. Upon the division of the parish of Tamlaght O'Crilly in 1775, it was constituted a Perpetual Curacy. In that year, the Earl Bishop built a small church at his own expense. This was rebuilt in 1815. Tamlaght O'Crilly Lower became a parish in 1883.

The church is entered through the porch at the base of a louvered tower. There are two blind windows in the west wall, and a window with coloured glass in the west wall of the tower. Inside the church is a three bay hall, with three windows in the south wall and none in the north wall.

These windows all have square-paned coloured and opaque glass.

The east window depicts the Good Shepherd. It commemorates the Rev. Samuel Scott Frackelton, Rector of Tamlaght O' Crilly Lower from 1883 until his death in 1911.

The chancel step extends westwards on both sides of the nave, to form a podium for the baptistry adjacent to the north wall. The pulpit and the prayer desk are on the left side of the chancel.

The prayer desk and chair are in memory of William Greer who died in 1977. The Holy Table and the chair on the left side of the sanctury are both in memory of James and Elizabeth Kissick, 1992.

The lectern commemorates Robert McCullough, 1968. There are two chairs and a credence table on the right sanctuary. The organ is on the right of the chancel.

A monument commemorates Reserve Constable William James Greer who was killed in 1977, and another, Trooper John Smyth of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who was killed in 1917 during the Great War. On the south wall are memorials to James Courtnenay and his wife, Marths, 1899,

and to John Patton who died in 1927, his wife Sarah who died in the same year, and Archibald Patton who died in France in action in 1917.

On the east wall of the sanctuary, there is a memorial to Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. Samuel Frackleton, who died in 1914, and on the south wall of the sanctuary is a memorial to those who fell in the first and second world wars.

Tamlaght O'Crilly Upper and Lower were reunited in 1963.


  1. I've been doing a little research on my Irish ancestors, and I'm pretty sure my great-great grandparents have a headstone in the church graveyard. Your photographs are outstanding!

  2. Thank you very much. I must add more churches to the blog.