Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a gentle S-facing slope. This is the parish church of Stradbally within a rectangular graveyard (dims. c. 70m N-S; c. 70m E-W) defined by masonry walls. It consists of a nave (ext. dims. 19.4m E-W; 9.87m N-S) and chancel (ext. dims. 12.25m E-W; 8m N-S) surviving complete with quoins, and an external base-batter on the S nave wall. Only the chancel arch is ruinous. The nave has opposing doorways towards the W end of the N and S walls, that on the S is flanked by a stoup. There are destroyed windows towards the E end of the N and S walls, and the W gable has a single light with the remains of a bellcote above.
The chancel, rebuilt in 1851, has a narrow segmental-headed window in the E gable, a roundheaded window in the N wall with traces of a second nearby, and two round-headed windows in the S wall. A tower (ext. dims. 6.87m E-W; 6.03m N-S) with a slight base-batter was added N of the nave, but only the N wall survives to the first floor with mural stairs rising in the W wall. A tomb/vault SW of the church reused dressed stone which may have originally come from the tower. A highly decorated medieval grave-cover is in the nave. Archaeological testing (07E1137) c. 50m SW of the church recorded two shallow rock-cut ditches that are probably post-medieval in date (Pollock 2011d). (Power 1896b, 201-8)

Compiled by: Michael Moore.

Date of Upload: 26t September, 2011.

References

Power, Rev. P. 1896 The ancient ruined churches of Co. Waterford. Waterford and South East of Ireland Archaeological Journal 2, 2-15, 195-208.

Pollock, D. 2011 St James' National school, Stradbally. Ditches. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2008: summary account of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 2008, 363, No 1237. Dublin. Wordwell.