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Temple Cronan

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Temple Cronan, known in Irish as Teampall Chrónáin, is a ruined medieval chapel near a holy well in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. The surviving building probably dates from the 12th and 15th centuries and may include older masonry from an earlier monastic site. Some researchers think the site may have started as a pagan temple, but most see it as an early Christian church later rebuilt. It lies in the civil parish of Carran, about eight miles from Corofin and sixteen miles from Ennis.

The remains include a window on the east wall and a blocked Cyclopean doorway on the west. A 15th‑century renovation added a Gothic-arched door on the north wall, above which is a carved stone head. The rectangular oratory is about 6.6 by 3.9 metres; the roof has fallen, but the walls still stand. Inside, six or seven Romanesque carved heads decorate the walls. On the east side are two tomb shrines, probably for pilgrims. About 100 metres south is Tobar Chronain, a holy well at the base of a cliff. To the north are the ruins of domestic buildings; to the northeast is a quarry used for building material; in the northwest corner is a large high cross that marked the boundary of the grounds.

Temple Cronan was a pilgrimage site in the 12th century. No excavations have been done, so much about its full history remains uncertain. It is listed as a National Monument (No. 13).


This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:27 (CET).