Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a steep NE-facing slope down to a N-S stream. J. O'Donovan c. 1840 (O'Flanagan 1929, 34) recorded the ruins of a small oratory within the D-shaped area (max. dims. c. 80m NW-SE; c. 60m NE-SW) defined by A SW-NE stone wall at W and a curving road E-SW. It is described by Blackett (1851, JRSAI, 496) as '35 feet by 16 feet and supported by a butress at its E end'. It may have been on a terrace (dims. c. 7.5m E-W; c. 6m N-S) overlooking St Cuan's Well to the NE — St Cuan was reputedly the second abbot of Mothel (WA007-010001-), c. 2km to the SW. There are no visible remains of a church at ground level, although a number of mounds and architectural fragments were present in the 1890s (Power 1896b, 12-13). Tobar Chuain is a stone-lined well (dims. 3.05m x 2.45m; D 1.75m), with an ash tree growing from its walls, NE of the possible church site. A pattern was held here from July 9th-11th in the 19th century (OS Name Books).

Blackett, W. R. (1851) Antiquities in the County of Waterford. JRSAI 1, 496-500.
O'Flanagan, M. (Compiler) (1929) Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Waterford collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1841. Typescript. Bray.
Power, P. (1896b) The ancient ruined churches of Waterford. WAJ. 2, 2-15, 195-298.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload/revision: 6 December 2010