Ancient Church Ruins At Malin Head (Anonymous). IM·r. Henry Morris refers to this walls were.between eight and nine feet . old edifice as the Gorman Church near high and the apex of the standing gable !Malin Head, yet that name is never is about twenty feet from the outside. applied to it by even the oldest of the ground level. l'he !Walls are thirty-two inhabitants of the district. The name inches .thick. They are faced on_.hoth of the townland in which it is built, sides with fairly large stones of various Ballygorman, would suggest that at thickness all standing on· their ends . some early 'Period people named Gor-with the spaces between filled with man were impor1ant enough to impress rubble bound together with lime mor- · their name on the place and it is pos- tar. This mortar is still so strong that. sible that M·r. Morris in his researches some force is required to chip any of came aC'rOss some reference to this it off. In the gable there is an opening· family. There is no local tradition with for a :window fortynine inches ·ill regard to when or by whom the church height, with an exterior width ·of fif: _ was founded. Some Of the old local teen inches splayed to forty inches Oil .. people, 'llP to recently, remember hav-the inside, while in the southern side irig heard that Saint Muirdealach had wall there is one fortysix ·inches high, some connection with it but iWhether thirteen inches wide on .<Outside and . he was the founder of the · church or thirtyfour inches on the inside~ Thick not is not known for certain, The site floag stones iwere •used as lintels on of the church is practically on the both windows. A ·recess in the masonry b~ach at the base of a cliff on the round the .outside of these openings nort.hern sfide of the Malin. Head pro- shows that window f-rames were used montory. The main cliff and a portion but nothing remains to show what of it which juts farther seaward to theJtransparent substance filled these ·west cf the ruins so obscure the view openings. There is no evidence . to that you are within twenty yards of'shQw what kind of .roof was on the the old edifice before it can be seen. building and the only attempt at ornaAt present the ruins consist of the two mentation is ia rude face carved on the ·side ·walls and the eastern gable, all top stone in the comer between· the .a:most intact. The foundation !course of south wall and the eastern gable. . masori'rjr is all that remains of the The state .of the ruin has not western gable but many of the ·stones ch~nged iwithin living memory ·and the of mhkh it was composed are lying fact that three of the walls · are still around outside and inside .the struc- standing would go to prove ·th.at the ture. The building was thirty-five feet disaippearance of the westei:n .gable long and .fifteen feet wide, The side was not due to ~ny ·act of vanda!ism. • ()'> D '!.'·
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