Baptistgrange (Irish Gráinseach Eoin Baiste[1]) is the site of a monastic grange (farm) in County Tipperary, not far from the village of Lisronagh. In the historical sources it is often known as "Achadfada" or "Achfada".[2]
It supplied food and other raw materials to the Augustinian monastery of St John the Baptist, Dublin.[3] The grange church, the remains of which survive, is in the middle of a graveyard. It was associated with a village to the north-west (now deserted) and a castle to the west. The latter is referred to in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as "an old broken stump of a Castle with an old broken Bawne".[4]
After the dissolution of the monasteries during the Reformation, the grange was leased out, being described as a "fortilage or castle, with a hall, etc. 51 acres and 12 cottages, leased in 1541 to the countess of Ormond at £4".[5]
The church is divided between the nave and chancel with an unusual triple chancel arch, a series of three arches right across the church interior, but now collapsed. On either side of the former altar, in the north and south side walls, there is a lighting opening. Corbels project from the side walls to the west: these, instead of putlog holes, supported wooden gallery beams.[3]
