Knocktopher Church

A square tower and part of the north wall are all that remain of the medieval parish church of Knocktopher, built in the late 12th century by Matthew FitzGriffin and once the property of the Augustinian canons; most of it was demolished in 1870. The tower has an unusual profile from the road, its medieval body topped by a much later octagonal, crenellated section, and on its far side are the remains of a fine Romanesque doorway probably older than the tower itself. In the tower's ground floor lies a late 14th-century double effigy of a civilian couple in long pleated gowns and pointed shoes, the woman in an unusual headdress, with a carved angel on a corbel above. Under the north wall's 15th-century traceried window stands a chest tomb of 1622 carved with the symbols of the Passion. A recent visitor found the tower standing out from anywhere in the village graveyard and the grounds spotless and well kept.