Church

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument in state ownership No. 134. Situated at the south-east corner of the Upper Lake near Poulanass brook. Reefert Church (from 'Righ Fearta' the burial place of Kings), a possible eleventh-century church, has been extensively restored and consists of a nave (dims. 8.9m E-W; 5.3m N-S) and chancel (dims. 4m E-W; 2.5m N-S) with a simple chancel arch. The W door has inclined jambs and a lintel, both granite. The nave was lit by two round-headed windows in the S wall and the chancel by a similar window in the E gable. There is an aumbry in the E end of the S wall of the nave. Six external stone corbels are evident, now set at different levels, which would have supported the roof. The church was originally within a cashel which Price (1940) suggests is incorporated into the modern graveyard wall; he also mentions a holy well 'just above Reefert Church'. Healy (1972) mentions at least eighteen decorated graveslabs and crosses in and around Reefert, many of which are fragmentary, while there are a further fifty undecorated slabs, some of which are built into the steps. There is a cross of shale (H 1.9m; Wth across arms 0.69m) near the south-east corner of the church. It has a cross with expanding terminals at the centre of the imperforate ringed head, and knots of interlace in the expanded terminals (Harbison 1992, 96). According to O'Donovan the pedestals of four crosses were in the graveyard. Leask (1950, 40-41, fig. 18) describes and illustrates a number of the slabs. Nine platforms (WI023-029002-), some of which may be charcoal-burning sites and two of which may be hut sites, lie to the W and SW of the church. (O'Flanagan 1928, 167-70; Price 1940, 264-5; Leask 1950, 12-13; Healy 1972, 6, 17-21, 146)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wicklow' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 19 December 2012

See linked document with plan taken from Robert Cochrane Historical and Descriptive Notes with Ground Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Ecclesiastical Remains at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. Extract from the Eightieth Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland 1911-12. Dublin, 1925.

References

Leask, H.G. 1950 Glendalough, Co. Wicklow: national monuments vested in the Commissioners of Public Works. Dublin. Stationery Office.

Healy, P. 1972 Supplementary survey of ancient monuments at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. Unpublished OPW report.

Price, L. 1940 Glendalough: St Kevin's Road. In J. Ryan Rev. (ed.), Féil-sgríbhinn Eóin Mhic Néill, Essays and studies presented to Professor Eoin MacNeill. At the Sign of the Three Candles, Dublin.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1928 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Wicklow collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1838. Bray.