Site of Abbey — Clashmore

Located towards the bottom of a S-facing slope on the N bank of the Greagagh River at a point where it changes from a NE-SW direction and turns W to join the N-S River Blackwater c. 2.3 km to the W. This is an early ecclesiastical site founded by St Cronin or Mochua in the 7th century (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 31), but there is little evidence of this, other than a bullaun stone (WA037-008005-) of Old Red Sandstone (dims. 0.58m x 0.5m; H 0.28m) with a single basin (diam. 0.27m; D 0.15m) and St Mochua’s Well (WA037-007----) c. 300m to the W. (Power 1896b, 201-2) It is the also site of the parish church of Clashmore (WA037-008002-) within a rectangular graveyard (WA037-008003-) which contains a C of I church that was built in 1818 and has recently been converted into a heritage centre. Archaeological excavation (07E0051) on a small site c. 40m N of the graveyard produced no related material (Lynch 2010b), and testing (06E1088) on a large area (dims. c. 270m N-S; c. 125m E-W) W of the graveyard produced only post-medieval features (Lynch 2009). Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R. N. (1970) (reprint 1988) Medieval religious houses in Ireland. Irish Academic Press, Dublin. Lynch, R. (2009) Clashmore. Post-medieval activity. in I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2006: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 527-8, No. 1980. Wordwell. Dublin. Lynch, R. (2010b) Mansfield, Clashmore. No archaeological significance. in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 2007: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 513, No. 1810. Wordwell. Dublin. Power, Rev. P. (1896b) The ancient ruined churches of Waterford. WAJ. 2, 2-15, 195-298. 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. Revised by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 10 November 2011