Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on the W-facing slope of a N-S sand dune with the seashore just to the E. This is the site of the parish church of Donaghmore within a subrectangular graveyard (dims. 60m N-S; 42m E-W) defined by a masonry wall on the roadside at E and a stone-clad earthen bank elsewhere. The name Donaghmore intimates that it is an ancient site, and Ua Dubhghaill (1925, 91) suggests that it was founded by St. Patrick, while Culleton (1999, 42) notes the pattern that used to be held at the end of July and connects this with the pre-Christain Lughnasa festival. According to a Visitation by Thomas Ram, the Protestant bishop of Ferns, in 1615 Muragh McParson was the curate, and the church and chancel were in repair (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 273).
The church (ext. dims. 13.45m E-W; 6.7m N-S) survives almost complete with plain quoins. Much of the original fabric survives, although it was used for Church of Ireland worship into the 19th century according to John O'Donovan writing c. 1840 (O'Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 64-5). The W doorway (Wth 1.3m) has no rebate for a jamb but has a wooden lintel and a draw-bar socket in the W jamb. The E window is destroyed, apart from parts of the pointed embrasure. The only other window is towards the E end of the S wall and has been removed, but parts of the embrasure could be original. Another original feature is a pointed aumbry (Wth 0.42m; H 0.85) with a chamfer and pyramid stops towards the E end of the S wall. Archaeological testing (09E0591) c. 50m to the NW failed to produce any related material (Stafford 2013).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 21 May, 2012
Amended: 4 Sep. 2013

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1933 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of County Wexford, collected during progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1838. Typescript in 2 vols. Bray.

Stafford, E. 2013 Donaghmore. No archaeological significance. in I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2010: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 239, No. 746. Dublin, Wordwell

Ua Dubhghaill, S. 1925 List of ancient churches, graveyards, castles, wells, etc. The Past, vol. 3, 86-99.

Culleton, E. 1999 Celtic and Early Christian Wexford. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1999.