Kilmore Church is built on a dangerous bend. There is not much place to park. The building looks old and grey. Across from it is the Kilmore House. A tunnel is believed to have stretched from the church to Lowfield lake. My granny is buried in the church grounds. There are many interesting memorial slabs inside the church. It is very dangerous in stormy weather. The hall is nearby. Next door is my Grandad's house. My grandfather is the caretaker.

Kilmore Church - Interesting Facts

1. The blind windows or niches in the semi-circular wall and the Gothic style gateway, could have been the original sanctuary apse. These windows or "stalls" could have been used by the canons to sit and read their office together.

2. Inside the gateway to the left is a small stone incribed in Latin and Irish meaning "Edionna, the daughter of Mac Breannon had me erected A.D. 1357.

3. Next to it, is a tombstone in memory of Rev.James O' Reilly, doctor of the Sorbonne, Paris who died in 1760.

4. On entering the church, two large memorial slabs can be found built into the wall of the nave on the right. These date from 1690 and bear the names Blackburn and the King.

5. The Lawder memorial is the most interesting feature. A large white marble slab is fixed to the wall. It depicts the shooting of James Lawder on 7th January 1779. He was murdered in Kilmore House. The memorial was erected by his wife Mrs. Jane Lawder (nee Contharine). Mrs. Lawder's mother was a first cousin of Oliver Goldsmith, the famous poet. Jane Lawder died in Dublin in 1791.

6. There is a brass memorial of Surgeon Major Thomas Heazle Parke. At the end of the inscription it states- This tablet is erected in grateful and affectionate rememberance by the two surviving officers of the expedition Henry Mortan Stanley, Commander, and A.J. Maunteney Jephson, Lieutenant.

7. Local legend states that an underground tunnel connects the church and Lowfield lake which is two miles away. It was intended as an escape route from the Abbey church.

8. Services in Kilmore Church ceased over 20 years ago.