Church in Ballyhack

Located at the top of a steep cliff (H c. 30-40m) overlooking the estuary of the Barrow/Nore/Suir, which is to the S. This is the site of a church serving the village of Ballyhack and its castle (WX044-009001-) c. 600m to the NW. According to a Visitation by Thomas Ram, the Protestant bishop of Ferns, in 1615 the churches of St. James and Killesk were impropriate to Dunbrody, but St. James’ was in good repair (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 269). The church is described as in ruins in the Civil Survey (1654-6) (Simington 1953, 194). However, it became the Church of Ireland parish church of St James and Dunbrody, which was described as small and without a tower or steeple that had been repaired by the Ecclesiastic Commissioners in the 1830s (Lewis 1837, vol. 2, 28). It does not survive within a subrectangular graveyard (dims c. 90m E-W; c. 40m N-S) defined by masonry walls. The stone head (WX044-033001-) and small stone effigy (WX44-033002-), now in Arthurstown village c. 500m to the E, probably came from this church, and the granite trough in the graveyard could have been a sarcophagus for the effigy. 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: 17 June 2013 Amended: 2 Sep. 2013, 9 Sep. 2020