Priory Plantation House ( Remains of), Dungiven Priory, Priory Lane, Dungiven, Co Londonderry, BT47 4PF

The remains of an important mediaeval religious building dating from the 12th and 14th centuries, later adapted as a fortified house during the Plantation of County Londonderry in the early 17th century. The site contains one of the finest specimens of a niche tomb in Northern Ireland and is a scheduled monument in state care.

The ruins comprise a former Augustinian Priory with nave and chancel, adapted in the early 17th century to a Plantation fortified house and church. The walls stand almost to wallplate level and are built in coursed random rubble. The lower wall remains of the fortified Plantation house occupy the southwest corner.

The east gable features two centrally placed narrow lancets with pointed heads and splayed sandstone trim, the pointed heads appearing to be cut from single stones. The top part of the gable is missing. The lower walling is roughly coursed whilst above the lancets it is random rubble work, with some sections probably rebuilt. The quoin stones form a good line. A passageway runs between the gable and the higher ground of the graveyard, retained by a stone wall, continuing along the south wall of the chancel and nave with an obstructing piece of masonry across it in line with the gable.

The south wall of the chancel has a single lancet approximately three times the width of those in the gable, set above a former doorway now built up. The lancet has a modern glazed timber frame protected by steel mesh. The chancel wall is set back on each side from that of the nave. The south wall of the nave contains a small round-headed window similar to that at Banagher old church ruins, positioned about one-third the length of the nave wall from the chancel. The wall is almost demolished towards the south corner where there is a doorway leading into what would have been the base of the former tower.

The west wall has only 1.5 metres of height remaining and would have formed part of the former tower house, with greater wall thickness if so. It has a doorway on the south side entering under the tower. The north wall of the nave contains the principal door to the church, a round-headed opening with a flanking wall projecting at right angles suggesting a porch. Between this door and the chancel is a large pointed window with hood moulding and eroded remains of stops, with stumps of stone tracery in the pointed upper part. The window possibly had flamboyant tracery similar to that in Monea Church of Ireland, taken from Devenish church ruins. There are no openings in the north wall of the chancel. The stonework is impressive, semi-coursed with roughly squared blocks. A temporary timber fascia caps the chancel wall, and a protective corrugated iron roof covers the chancel.

The walls of the fortified house are generally only about a metre high and appear as a result of excavations carried out in 1982. The exposed walls show three compartments at ground level, two in line at right angles to the church at the south corner. A great width of masonry separates two of the spaces, suggesting an internal fireplace.

The priory and fortified house ruins are sited within an old graveyard east of Dungiven at the end of Priory Lane, a long well-kept pathway. The graveyard sits on a prominence overlooking the River Roe in a secluded locale.

The priory is thought to fall within two periods, with the chancel perhaps being the older dating from the 12th century whilst the nave dates from the 14th century. The tower house may be later, either 15th or 16th century. The priory was suppressed in the 16th century and at the beginning of the 17th century was occupied by Doddington, an Elizabethan soldier and servitor to the Skinners Company. He erected the fortified house and the priory chapel became a Church of Ireland parish church. A new chancel arch was constructed similar to that at the Garrison church, Ballykelly. Doddington died in 1618 and his widow, his second wife and a Beresford, remarried Sir Francis Cooke. Lady Cooke obtained a lease of the estate for 47½ years. Her daughter from her first marriage married George Carey, so on Lady Cooke's death either in 1679 or 1688 the estate passed to Carey. The priory church remained in use as a place of worship until 1718 when a new church was built at the top of Dungiven main street. The roof timbers of the priory church were reused in it. The tower at the west end collapsed in 1784, illustrated in Sampson's Statistical Account of the County of Londonderry. The priory ruins and those of the excavated fortified house are scheduled monuments in state care (Ldy 31.15).