Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Located towards the N end of what was once a triangular island (max. dims c. 700m N-S; c. 220m E-W at S) with the apex at N in Lady’s Island Lough (dims c. 3.5km NNE-SSW; c. 500m-1.5km E-W), a lake that was called Lough Togher in the 17th century (Hore 1862, 87). Salt water seeps through the bar separating the lake from the sea, and sometimes the bar is breached, so the lough is a semi-salt-water lagoon. The parish church of Lady's Island, which was known as Insula Barry – perhaps a corruption of Insula Mhuire (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 299) - is within a subcircular or D-shaped graveyard (dims c. 38m NE-SW; 35m NW-SE) defined by masonry walls with straight sides at NE and SE. There is a tradition that Augustinian Canons regulated pilgrimages to a famous shrine here from the 14th century (Grattan Flood 1915, 73; Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 199, 304). A plenary indulgence was granted to pilgrims in the early 17th century (Corish 1987, 223), but Cromwell is said to have destroyed the shrine during the siege of Wexford in 1649 (Murphy c. 1960, 11-12), although there is no corroboration of this (Hore 1925, 22). Nevertheless, the pilgrimage, involving a circuit of the Island, was described by Col. Solomon Richards in 1682 (Hore 1862, 87-8) and continues to this day during August when it is centred on the Feast of the Assumption, on the 15th. See this web-page accessed on 26 February. http://www.ourladysisland.ie/index.php/history

Only the W gable (oriented NE-SW; L 6.33m; T 0.8m) with a narrow window and a double bellcote at the apex survives with adjoining portions of the side walls. Archaeological supervision of the conservation of the church walls led to the discovery of four dressed stones, all possibly from the same three-light cusped ogee-headed window that might have been used as the E window of the church (McLoughlin 2020). The church is separated from the mainland by a causeway (WX053-016----) guarded by the tower house and double curtain wall (WX053-014----). Our Lady's Well (WX053-018----), which was part of the pilgrimage route (O'Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 299), lies c. 500m to the E on the mainland, and there is another holy well (WX053-013003-) c. 70m to the W of the church, on the W shore of the island.

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: 25 March, 2014
Amended: 11 November 2020

References

Murphy, Rev. P. c. 1960 Our Lady's Island: in history and legend. Pamphlet

Hore, H. F. 1862 Particulars relative to Wexford and the barony of Forth: by Colonel Solomon Richards, 1682. Journal of teh Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 7, 84-92.

Flood, W.H. Grattan 1915 Notes towards a parochial history of the Diocese of Ferns. Waterford. Downey and Co.

Hore, P. H. 1925 The barony of Forth. Part 3. The Past, vol. 3, 9-40.

Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N. 1970 (Reprint 1988) Medieval religious houses of Ireland. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.

Corish, P.J. 1987 Two centuries of Catholicism in county Wexford. In K. Whelan and W. Nolan (eds), Wexford: History and Society, 222-47. Dublin. Geography Publications.

McLoughlin, C. 2020 Report on conservation works at Lady’s Island church, lady’s Island, Co. Wexford. Unpublished report, Stafford McLoughlin