Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a S-facing slope. This is the parish church of Newcastle within a subrectangular graveyard (dims. c. 45m E-W; c. 45m N-S) defined by stone walls. It is an undifferentiated structure (int. dims. 16.4m E-W; 5m N-S) of which the W gable with a rectangular window, and the E gable with a blocked ogee-headed window obscured by ivy, survive almost complete, but the other walls are reduced to the foundations. A chest tomb cover (dims. 1.9m x 1.1m) of James Ronan of Hacketstown dated 1626 (Walton 1980, 70) is in the NE corner of the church, but its side-panels with symbols of the Passion is in the SE corner. An octagonal font (ext. dim. 0.57m; H 0.45m) with a subrectangular basin (dims. 0.41m x 0.41m; D 0.23m) is just outside the church to the N. A castle site (WA016-025----) is c. 70m to the NW. (Martin 1874-5, 249-50; Power 1895, 169-70)

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 upload/revision: 8th December 2011.

References

Martin, Dr. 1874-5 Proceedings and papers. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 13, 247-50, 437, 479, 481.

Power, Rev. P. 1895 The ancient ruined churches of Co. Waterford. Waterford and South East of Ireland Archaeological Journal 1, 133-41, 162-72, 247-53.

Walton, J. 1980 Pictorial decoration on east Waterford tombstones. Decies, no. 14, 67-83.