The churches of Monasterboice and the layout of the site

The two ruined churches at the important early medieval ecclesiastical site of Monasterboice, Co. Louth, are described and a revised building history is established for them. Part of a small pre-Romanesque church is incorporated in the west wall of the South Church, which was built as a new parish church in the late twelfth century. The North Church was built, possibly as a shrine church on a new site, in the thirteenth century. Based on comparisons with other important ecclesiastical sites, there must have been a substantial congregational church at Monasterboice, which does not survive. These conclusions in conjunction with geometrical analysis of the surviving monuments, in the light of comparison with Clonmacnoise, result in a new understanding of the layout of the site in early medieval times.