Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated at the crest of a NE-facing slope. St. Vogue’s church (WX053-035002-) is within a subcircular or D-shaped and grass-covered enclosure (dims 48m NE-SW; 42m NW-SE) defined by an earthen bank (Wth 2.5-3.5m; int. H 0.8-1.2m; ext. H 1.2-1.5m) S-N-NE that is also the townland boundary with Nethertown S-W-N. The perimeter is curtailed by old farm buildings at SE and by a N-S farm track at E. As the original entrance to this enclosure is not identified, it may have been on the E side. Although the stratigraphic evidence is not conclusive, excavation (E000143) determined that the earliest internal features are probably associated with the use of the enclosure, the bank of which was accompanied by a shallow outer fosse (at W: Wth of top c. 2m; D 0.5m). The bank had an original external stone-facing at W, but that visible at N was more recent (O’Kelly et al. 1975, 23-4).
The enclosure was only used for burial after the abandonment of the church and a late medieval house (WX053-035007-), when it may have been reserved exclusively for drowned mariners. The names of ships that sank near Carnsore Point, such as the ‘William’ of Weymouth in 1818 which has the only headstone, the ‘Ceres’ in 1866, the ‘Langdale’ in 1879, and the ‘Sem’, a Hungarian ship wrecked in 1884, are known locally to have provided interments (Walsh 1921-5). Seventeen burials were excavated in the northern part of the enclosure, and a further ten, mostly infants, were recorded inside the church. Redeposited human remains were recovered throughout the excavated area, but an adult burial within the church is thought to pre-date the earliest structure (O’Kelly et al. 1975, 34-6).

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 9 April, 2014

References

O'Kelly, M.J., Lynch, A. and Cahill, M. 1975 Archaeological survey and excavation of St Vogue's church, enclosure and other monuments at Carnsore, Co. Wexford. Unpublished report, Dept. of Archaeology, University College Cork.

Walsh, J. 1921-5 St. Vogue's churchyard, parish of Carne. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland, 11, 250-1.