The Church of Enagh County Derry

The Church of Enagh

The church of Enagh is beautifully situated on a bank of the eastern lake of that name. It is much dilapidated but enough remains to show its original form and the style of its architecture, in both of which it is very similar to most of the other ancient churches of the county. The current church ruins date back to the 18th Century and this may be the site of the church recorded in the Annals of Ulster, as pillaged by Roitsel Pitton in 1197, and may have been founded by St.Canice.

The church, which sits in an ancient graveyard near the shore of Enagh Lough, once looked across the waters to an O'Cahan tower house built on a crannog, or artificial island. While the tower house is long gone, the gable walls of the church remain intact.

One of the gravestones dates back as far as 1638 but the exact date the church was built is unknown. However, it is thought to have been built on the site of a much older ecclesiastical centre, which may have been founded by Saint Canice, Bishop of Aghaboe and patron saint of Kiannachta, who died in the sixth century.

Other sources suggest Colum Crag or Columba may have founded the Enagh church, but there is little firm evidence. However, this earlier church is known to have been one of three that were plundered in 1197 by an Anglo-Norman raiding party.

It is thought to have been a monastic site, later converted into a parish church.