Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Described as 'site of Church' and traced in outline on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. It is situated in the narrow E-W valley of the Oldcourt Stream which is c. 10m to the S. Although Lewis (1837; 715) mentions a neat Catholic church near Oldcourt this was probably referring to the church at Ballykelly c. 850m to the S, and this structure may have been a chapel-of-ease in Whitechurch parish, or an estate chapel associated with the Sutton castle (WX034-026----) c. 180m to the NNW. The base of the clay-bonded walls of a rectangular building (int. dims. 9.15m E-W; 4.20m N-S; H 0.8m) survive. There is no evidence of burial within a rectangular enclosure (dims. c. 40m N-S; c. 30m E-W) defined by earthen banks on all sides except the N where there is a mill-race. St Nicholas' Well, a natural spring, lies c. 200m to the ESE.

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: 14 September, 2012

References

Lewis, S. 1837 (reprint 1980) A history and topography of Limerick City and county. Dublin and Cork. Mercier Press.