Church in Waterford City

The site of the parish church of St Peter's, the earliest reference to which dates to 1314 (Bradley et al. 1989, vol. 2, 250). It is described as a nave and chancel in disrepair in 1615 (Power 1913, 115). Late 17th-century maps (Phillips 1685; Ryland 1824, 106ff.) depict a simple rectangular structure which was a ruin by 1745 (Smith 1746, 181). In advance of redevelopment the site was completely excavated on behalf of Waterford Corporation. The church was excavated by A. Gittins (E000343; 1987; 1988; 1989), and A. Hayden (E000435; 1989) excavated the graveyard (WA009-005071-). A full description of the excavation (Hurley and McCutcheon 1997), the architectural survey (Murtagh 1997) and the skeletal remains has been published (Power 1997). The excavations revealed a complicated structural development dating from the early 12th century when a small, rectangular stone building (dims. c. 5.25m E-W; c. 4m N-S) was built with a stone altar, the base of which survives. It is possible that this church was built on the site of an earlier wooden structure which was represented by post-holes and 62 burials not stratigraphically related to the stone structure. Shortly after the stone structure was completed a nave (int. dims. 9.7m E-W; 6.05-6.45m N-S) and apse (dims. 2.9m E-W; 2.6m N-S) were added with 250 associated burials (including 25 in the nave). The graveyard extended S c. 10m from the wall of the church to a boundary trench, and a small building (int. dims. 4.5m E-W; 4m N-S), probably the first in a series of 'priests houses' or 'sacristies', was added to the S wall of the chancel and apse. The third building phase which dates from the mid-13th century to the late 16th/early 17th century commenced when the chancel and apse were replaced by a square-ended chancel which was bonded to the original nave. This transformed the church into an undifferentiated structure (dims. c. 24.2m E-W; c. 6.5m N-S) to which opposing doorways at the W end of both the N and S walls, a second doorway in the S chancel wall, and a tiled floor were added. The remains of benches were found inside the W and N nave walls, with the base of a font inside the S nave doorway. A chantry chapel (int. dims. 5.7m E-W; 2.85m (min.) N-S) was added externally to the N wall at the junction of the nave and chancel, and a priest's house of two rooms (dims. 8.4m N-S; 4.8m E-W) was added to the S chancel wall which was entered by a new doorway from the chancel. The priest's house had at least one upper floor with two garderobe chutes in the W wall. This 'phase three' building was burned and repaired twice and the graveyard was extended further S. A total of 571 burials are associated with the graveyard and another 90 burials were found within the church. In the mid-17th century (phase four), when Jesuits occupied the site, the N and S aisles were added to the nave, the long walls of which were replaced with arcading. Four arches were inserted in the N nave wall, and because the priest's house was still extant, only three arches could be inserted in the S nave wall. Doorways were placed in the N and S aisle walls, stone paving was added to the nave and the chancel was re-floored with old tiles. Altogether 28 burials from the graveyard and 33 from within the church, including four individuals from a stone-lined tomb against the N wall of the chancel, are associated with this building phase. The church was abandoned in the late 17th century, although all the walls were extant. The interior was still used as a burial ground and the N part of the church may have been used for burial throughout the 18th century as well. A range of four cells (int. dims. 1.7-2.15m E-W; 2.65-2.95m N-S), which were probably used as stables, were built in the late 17th or early 18th century against the inner face of the S aisle wall, and the W wall functioned as a property boundary. The N part of the priest's house was transformed into a fifth stable at a later date when a cross-wall, aligned on the old S aisle wall, was added. The stables possibly had accommodation overhead and the area outside them to the N was paved as a mews. The mews appears to have been abandoned in the late 18th century when the remaining walls of the church were levelled, except the E chancel wall which survived into the 20th century (Power 1916, 107). A 'parochial school' (ext. dims. 13.5m E-W; 8.6m N-S), which is marked on the 1840 ed. of the OS 6-inch map, was built c. 2m S of the old line of the S aisle wall, and the site of the mid-17th-century church was reused as a graveyard. The graveyard was still in use in 1860, although it may have been closed by 1876 (Egan 1894, 516). About a third of this graveyard was excavated and 79 inhumations are recorded. The E chancel wall, the last visible fragment of St Peter's church, was razed within living memory and replaced by a modern boundary wall. Egan, J. (1894) Waterford guide. Publisher unknown. Gittins, A. (1987) St Peter's church, Custom House B Ward; medieval urban site. in C. Cotter (Ed.) Excavations 1986: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 28, No. 52. Wordwell. Dublin. Gittins, A. (1987) St Peter's church, Custom House B Ward; medieval urban site. in C. Cotter (Ed.) Excavations 1986: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 35-6, No. 75. Wordwell. Dublin. Gittins, A. (1988) St Peter's church/Bakehouse Lane, Custom House B Ward; medieval urban site. in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 1987: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 28, No. 52. Wordwell. Dublin. Gittins, A. (1989) St Peter's church/Bakehouse Lane, Custom House B Ward; medieval church and undercroft. in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 1988: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 37, No. 62. Wordwell. Dublin Hayden, A. (1989) Bakehouse Lane, Custom House Ward; Viking/medieval urban. in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 1988: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 37-8, No. 63. Wordwell. Dublin. Hurley, M. and McCutcheon, S. J. W. (1997) Section 7 (i) St Peter's Church and graveyard. in Hurley et al. (1997) Late Vikng age and medieval Waterford: excavations 1986-1992, 190-227. Waterford Corporation. Hurley, M., Scully, O.M.B. and McCutcheon, S.J.W. (1997) Late Vikng age and medieval Waterford: excavations 1986-1992. Waterford Corporation. Murtagh, B. (1997) Section 7 (ii) The architecture of St Peter's Church. in Hurley et al. (1997) Late Vikng age and medieval Waterford: excavations 1986-1992, 228-243. Waterford Corporation. Power, C. (1997) Section 20 (1) Human skeletal remains. in Hurley et al. (1997) Late Vikng age and medieval Waterford: excavations 1986-1992, 762-817. Waterford Corporation. Power, Rev. P. (1913) Material condition of the churches of Waterford. WAJ 16, 114-21. Power, Rev. P. (1916) Random gleanings in diocesan history. 1. St. Patrick's church and parish. Catholic Record of Waterford and Lismore. Vol. 4, 65-7; 107-010; 148-51. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 2nd March, 2011. Compiled by: Michael Moore.