St Colman’s old church and graveyard, Bridge Street, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4AD

Ruinous church aligned roughly E-W within an irregularly shaped graveyard on north side of Bridge Street. Church is single storey and formerly had a pitched roof, now gone. All walls are coursed rounded granite field stones, lime dashed (fallen off in places). All the larger window openings are now without cills, but retain their brick dressings. The external ground surface has been raised to window cill level on all sides. South elevation has four equally spaced openings. The second opening from left is a Gothic headed doorway with brick dressings. It is accessed by a sunken pathway bounded by a 2m high rubble stone retaining wall. First and third openings from left are large Gothic headed windows with brick surrounds. Fourth opening from left is a narrow stone-dressed lancet with trefoil head set in an ogee moulding, moulded jambs and sandstone cill. The left (west) gable is devoid of openings and has a brick built bellcote to gable, attached to which is a modern flagpole. North elevation has four openings. At extreme left is a narrow stone-dressed rectangular window with chamfered jambs and sandstone cill. The second and fourth are large Gothic headed windows as those on south elevation. The third opening from left is infilled. The top portion of the right (east) gable is now gone. It has a large Gothic window at centre, similar to those to south elevation. Graveyard is enclosed by a high modern polygonal granite wall to Bridge Street and by a variety of stone and concrete block walls elsewhere. There are traces of a low earthen bank to north of church, possibly the bank of a former rath. To west of church is a low rough stone cross with a socket stone at its foot. The grounds also contain many plain stone slabs laid to mark plots. There are also some roughly dressed gravestones (earliest 1727), and some finely dressed memorials (earliest 1798, up to 19th century).