THE 15TH CENTURY window frame that went missing from a church in Co Leitrim has been found.
It is believed that the medieval limestone frame was taken from the gable end of the chapel on Church Island on Lake Garadice over two years ago, but it was only discovered missing two weeks ago.
At around 10am this morning, local man Patrick Bradley was out topping grass when he noticed fresh stones in the shallow part of Lough Garadice, close to where it first went missing.
Local Councillor John McCartin went down to the shore this morning to see the discovery and told TheJournal.ie that he thinks it is all there and counted nine pieces in total.
He noticed dry, green moss growing on some parts of the recovered 600-year-old frame which indicates that it had been stored in a dry location for some time and had only been dumped recently.
McCartin believes the place the frame was dumped would suggest that someone locally may have been involved, as “you would need local knowledge of the area” to get to the location.
At the moment, gardaí are recovering the frame from the lake and it’s also being forensically examined.
A garda spokesperson in Carrick-on-Shannon told TheJournal.ie he believes it will be returned eventually to the church after it is “kept for some time as evidence”.
Anyone with information about the removal of the window-frame is asked to contact Gardaí in Carrick-on-Shannon at (071) 9620021 or the National Monuments Service at (01) 8882169 or nationalmonuments@ahg.gov.ie.
The picture on the left shows what the window frame looked like before it was removed, pictured right. (Images: National Monuments Service/Facebook)
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