Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated at the crest of an E-facing slope within a trivallate enclosure (see WA027-003010-) which has been suggested as 'the site of an early church' (Power 1952, 215). Excavations undertaken on the site in 1940 by M.J. Bowman uncovered a series of postholes which he considered represented a rectangular wooden structure and interpreted as the remains of an early wooden church (Curtin 2015, 31). Power, on the other hand, was more circumspect with regard to its interpretation suggesting that it might indicate a 'primitive oratory, residence or cattle shed' (Power 1941, 63-4), a sentiment echoed by Ó Carragáin (2010, 137). (Power 1941, 1952; Moore 1999, 165-6; Curtin 2015)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Updated by: Paul Walsh

Revised date of upload: 21 December 2015

References

Curtin, J. 2015 A reassessment of Michael J. Bowman's excavation of Killeenagh Burial Ground, Ballygarran, Co. Waterford, 1940. M.A. Thesis, University College Cork. National Monuments Service Archive.

Power, P. 1941 Ballygarran Cill, near Waterford. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 71, 63-4.

Power, Rev. P. 1952 (second ed.) The placenames of the Decies. Cork University Press.

Moore, M. 1999 Archaeological inventory of county Waterford. Dublin. Stationery Office.

Ó Carragáin, T. 2010 Churches in early medieval Ireland: architecture, ritual and memory. New Haven and London. Yale University Press.