Killan
St Anne's Parish Church
The parish church of Killane is situated on a small hill about two kilometres southwest of Milltown Lough. Originally part of Shercock parish, Killan townland along with 29 other townlands from Shercock, plus townlands from Moybologue parish, were joined together, in 1778, to form the parish of Baileborough. The rectangular church is about 30 metres in length SW-NE, and 8.6 metres wide. Sadly only the SW gable, pictured to the left in the image below, the NE gable with it pointed central window and part of the southwest wall is all that remains today. There is a blocked-up barrel vaulted mausoleum, for the Cosby family, built into the SW. The church stands in a circular graveyard with a small amount of gravestones scattered around the church. About 200 metres north-east of the church there was a holy well also dedicated to St Anne, but there are no visible remains at ground level. I would not recommend anyone going out of their way to visit St Annes.
Situated: from Baileborough head north on the R 178 for about 5 kilometres, then take a left onto the L3517. Go straight and keep left at the fork, then keep left again at the next fork. Old Killan graveyard is 1.5 kilometres down here on your right.
Discovery Map 35: H 6868 0221. Last visit Aug 2025.
Longitude: 6° 57' 14.7" W
Latitude: 53° 57' 53.3" N
Photos: José Gutiérrez.
