Ceramic ware found during church inspection outside Athlone, initially (5)
I believe the answer is:
china
'ceramic ware' is the definition.
(china is a kind of ceramic ware)
'church inspection outside athlone initially' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'ch' (abbreviation on maps etc).
'outside' suggests removing the centre.
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'inspection' with its centre removed is 'in'.
The initial letter of 'athlone' is 'a'.
'ch'+'in'+'a'='CHINA'
'found during' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for china that I've seen before include "Dresden, perhaps" , "Ceramics; country" , "Cathay was its archaic name" , "Country - crockery" , "Ceramic; country" .)