Religious house - Benedictine monks

The National Monuments Service's description

Located between John St. and Manor St. at the S end of the city. The Benedictine Priory and hospital of St John the Evangelist, which housed both monks and nuns, was founded before 1200, possibly by King John in 1185 (Cal. doc. Ire., vol. 1, 173). United with the Benedictine priory of Bath in 1204, it was suppressed in 1536 but the church, which had been parochial, continued in use and was still in good repair in the early 17th century (Power 1896c, 92). It had two chapels, one of which became associated with a hospital (WA009-005034-). It was in ruins by the mid-18th century (Smith 1746, 131).
The remains consist of an undifferentiated structure (min. int. dims. 21.65m E-W; 9m N-S) of which the E wall, most of the S wall and the E end of the N wall survive to a height of c. 6m. There are two pointed lancet windows in the S wall and one window embrasure in the N wall. A chapel (int. dims. 8m E-W; 4.55m N-S) with a wide arch entrance was added S of the chancel. A test excavation just E of the chancel revealed no archaeological features (Halpin 1992), but further work (03E1830; Scully 2006c, 2008) removed the overburden within the church revealing its N wall as part of a conservation programme. (Bradley et al. 1989, vol. 2, 254-9)

Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H. (1989) Urban archaeology Survey of Waterford City and County, 2 vols. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works.
Halpin, A. (1992) Manor St., Waterford; medieval urban. in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 1991: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 45, No. 123. Wordwell. Bray.
Power, Rev. P. (1896c) The priory church and hospital of St John the Evangelist, Waterford. WAJ 2, 81-97.
Scully, O. (2006c) St John's Priory, Waterford. Medieval priory. in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 2004: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 513, No. 1938. Wordwell. Bray.
Scully, O. (2008) St John's Priory, Waterford. in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 2005: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 366, No. 1511. Wordwell. Dublin.
Smith, C. (1746) The history of the town and county of Waterford. W. Wilson. Dublin.

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: 07 December 2010

Compiled by: Michael Moore