Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on a gentle S-facing slope in the foothills of the Blackstairs Mountains. This could be an early ecclestiastical site and the site of the parish church of Killann. According to a Visitation by Thomas Ram, the Protestant bishop of Ferns, in 1615 Robert Clere was the curate, and the church and chancel were in repair (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 272). The old church was pulled down c. 1835 according to John O'Donovan writing c. 1840 (O'Flanagan 1933, vol. 2, 102) and no traces of it are now visible within a subrectangular graveyard (dims. c. 50m N-S; c. 40m E-W) defined by an earthen bank. Traces of an ecclesiastical enclosure (diam. c. 100-120m) remain NE–S–NW of the graveyard, defined by a scarp (H c. 0.5m), but the perimeter is removed NW-NE by an E-W road and a carpark. St Anne's Well (WX018-011----) where the pattern was held on 26th July until 1824 and which is still venerated, lies c. 160m S of the graveyard. (Culleton 1999, 127)

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.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 22 May, 2012
Amended: 4 Sep. 2013

References

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

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.

Hore, P.H. 1900-1911 (Reprint 1979) History of the town and county of Wexford, 6 vols. Dublin. Published by arrangement with W.A. Hennessy Esq.