Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a spur between the valley of N-S Annestown stream to the E and a NW-SE tributary to the W. It is now accessible from the road in the valley below. This is the parish church of Dunhill within a rectangular graveyard (WA025-044002-) (dims c. 53m E-W; c. 37m N-S) defined by earthen banks with external stone facing. The church is described by O'Donovan c. 1840 as a nave (int. dims. 17m E-W; 6.25m N-S) and chancel (int. dims. 6.4m E-W; 4.3m N-S) with a fallen tower (int. dim. 3.4m N-S) at the W end (O'Flanagan 1929, 21-2). Almost all the walls are reduced to overgrown foundations, except the W nave wall which has a pointed doorway of unworked stone and the E chancel wall with its robbed-out window. There is evidence of a window and aumbry in the S wall of the chancel. A stone head that was found in the graveyard (WA025-044004-) cannot be traced now. Dunhill tower house (WA025-045----) is c. 175m to the ESE, and the site is accessible from the roadway in the valley to the E. (Power 1895, 139-41).

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: 23 December 2008

References

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.

O'Flanagan, Rev. 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. Bray.