Church

The National Monuments Service's description

The parish church of St Patrick's with references dating from 1468. Recorded as derelict in 1603, the church was in repair by 1615 (Anon. 1902, 114-5). Phillip's map (1685) depicts it as two-aisled while a 1673 map published in Ryland (1824, 106ff.) shows a small rectangular building. Some dressed stone in the graveyard may be from a 15th-century church and a recently discovered unpierced ringed-cross (WA009-005074-) (H 0.8m; Wth 0.6m; T 0.07m), which is broken at the top, is probably 17th or 18th century in date. The cross may have originally been associated with a well (WA009-005073-) to the SE (Power 1916, 66). The present church, now utilised by a combined Presbyterian and Methodist congregation, was built in 1727 and is within a rectangular graveyard (WA009-005072-) (dims. c. 70m E-W; c. 40m N-S) defined by masonry walls.
Archaeological test excavations (09E0223) in the graveyard uncovered evidence of a stone vault under the entrance porch of the present church and three brick vaults in the graveyard on the N side of the church, but concludes that the present church is not on the footprint of the medieval building (Ó Drisceoil 2009). The excavation identified thirteen burials located S of the church as pre-dating the construction of the present church and the raising of the graveyard levels associated with that building, but only one of these burials was removed from the ground (Ó Drisceoil 2014, 20). The underside of a paving stone (dims 0.35m x 0.3m; T 6cm) from the nave of the present church has a carved representation of a mermaid with a bifurcated tail. Only the bottom edges of the stone are missing, and the date suggested by the closest continental comparisons is c. 1600-1630 (ibid. 116-121).

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.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revision: 13 May, 2015

References

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2009 Archaeological test-excavations at St Patrick's Church, Patrick Street, Waterford city. Licence number: 09E0223. Unpublished report. Kilkenny Archaeology.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2014 Saint Patrick's church and Graveyard (WA009-005024-; WA009-005072-), Patrick Street, Waterford. Licence Number: 09E0223. Unpublished report: Kilkenny Archaeology

Ryland, Rev. R.H. 1824 The history, topography and antiquities of the city and county of Waterford. London. John Murray.

Power, Rev. P. 1916 Random gleanings in diocesan history: St Patrick's church and parish, Waterford. Catholic Record, 65-7, 107-10, 147-51.

Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H. 1989b Urban archaeological survey - Waterford City and County (2 vols.). Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

Anon. 1902 Documents illustrating the history of Waterford: 1 - The Protestant diocese of Waterford in 1615. Waterford and South East of Ireland Archaeological Journal 8, 103-19.