derryloran church

A monastery had probably been founded on the site some time before 800 by a St. Luran, but the first historical reference to a church here dates from 1195. Fragments of a 13th century successor have been built into the present ruined structure, erected c.1620, at around the time when Allan Cook was founding the town which bears his name. The church is a long, single-cell structure with its east end lit by a window with degenerate but well-preserved (restored) switch-line tracery. There are four windows in the south wall, and a further two in the north wall.

The belfry seems to be an original feature unusual for the period, but the porch would appear to be an 18th century addition. Though perhaps unroofed in 1689, the church apparently remained in use until 1822, when the Church of Ireland opened a new church closer to the town which William Stewart of Killymoon was laying out with its wide and long street.