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Church
Newtownbond church is in a ruinous state and parts of three walls still stand. The east gable contains the remains of the lower part of a window opening. A flat graveslab lies inside the church close to the southeast corner. There is no sign of the entrance, which may have been opposite the window in the west gable, or of further windows. More than likely the roof was covered with thatch or wooden tiles. The walls are built from limestone and the gables are thicker than the sidewall. This was probably because the gable walls needed to be stronger due to their greater height while the sidewalls supported the weight of the roof. The church is partially overgrown with ivy but in 1977 the window was described to 'have been just a plain rectangular opening.'
It is difficult to put a date on the church at Newtownbond, because the features such as windows and doorways that would help to date the church are missing. The church has a simple rectangular plan and has a length to width ratio of 1.5: 1, which is a characteristic of many early Christian churches. The Newtownbond church has no projecting sidewalls, as can be seen at the early Christian church of St. Mel at Ardagh. There is no separation of nave and chancel which distinguishes Celtic churches from those of the 12th or early 13th centuries. A church that had a west doorway and door or window mouldings made from sandstone would suggest a 12th or 13th century date. Although there is a pile of rubble at the middle of the western gable wall that could mark the position of a doorway, the evidence is not conclusive.
The church was visited on behalf of the Office of Public Works in 1977 and a short report was compiled as part of the record of archaeological sites and monuments in County Longford. The report did not put a date the church. However, it stated that church might have been a mortuary chapel associated with Newtownbond House. Although this could be a possibility, there has been a religious site at Newtownbond prior to the arrival of the Bond family to County Longford. Bishop Mac Namee in the History of the diocese of Ardagh states that there was a very early church in the parish of Killoe called Cill-mael or Kilmoyle and that traces of this church and cemetery were still to be seen within the demesne of the Bond family. Further information was given by Rev. Joseph McGivney in his Placenames of county Longford where he wrote that the place name of Kilmoyle was anglicised as Newtownbond. Bishop Mac Namee wrote that the church at Cill-Eo which gave its name to the parish, replaced the Newtownbond church.
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