Rochestown Church (in ruins) — Rochestown

On the E edge of a natural rise in undulating terrain, in a small wooded area, the church is centrally placed within a rectangular graveyard (TS081-042003-). The River Suir is located c. 300m to the W, and a tower house (TS082-055001-) c. 300m to the SE. The church (ext. dims. 15.75m x 8.4m), aligned E-W, is built of roughly coursed limestone rubble, with good dressed quoins. Both gables survive in good condition (E gable T 1.05m; H 5m above ext.; W gable H c. 5.5m to apex). The N wall (max. H 1.16m above ext.) is in a precarious state, mostly collapsed, while the S wall (T 0.84m; max. H 1.25) has also largely collapsed. A gap roughly W of centre in the S wall is probably the original position of the doorway. A sheela-na-gig (TS081-042002-) was formerly located in the E wall of the church. The E window is a simple ogee-headed single-light, rebated internally in a splayed, flat-headed embrasure. It is chamfered externally, has hollow spandrels, pocked tooling and drafted margins. There is an aumbry (Wth 0.42m; D 0.55m; H 0.47m) at the E end of the S wall. There are late 18th-century gravestones within the church. Six architectural fragments (TS081-042004- to TS081-042009-) were identified in the graveyard, re-used as grave-markers, all situated S of the church. Two of the fragments are door jambs and two are from the arch of the doorway. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011