Church in Ryland Lower

Located on a NE-facing slope of the NW-SE Slaney valley. The foundations of a church (int. dims 15.1m E-W; 8.2m N-S) defined by traces of the clay-bonded walls (T 1.2m) and cairns (H c. 0.5m) are at the E end of a trapezoidal graveyard (dims. c. 110m E-W; c. 25-35m N-S) defined by a stone-faced earthen bank. There was an unfinished cresset nearby that was not present in March 2012, but a jambstone from a doorway with a chamfer and pyramidal stop is now present. St Mary's Well, an oval drystone-walled structure (dims 2.4m E-W; 1.9m N-S) at which the pattern was held on 22nd July until c. 1810 according to J. O'Donovan writing c. 1840 (O'Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 244), lies c. 40m W of church within the graveyard. The date of the pattern identifies the saint as Mary Magdalen, a notorious sinner and penitent, who was the first person to encounter Christ after the Resurrection (Butler 1883, 102). The well is still venerated. The church site and the E part of the graveyard are within an oval ecclesiastical enclosure (dims c. 120m NNE-SSW; c. 65m WNW-ESE) which is visible as the cropmark of a ditch or fosse traceable W-NE-SSW on Google Earth (14/07/2018). The cropmark of what might be a bivallate rath is visible on the same image appended to the fosse of the ecclesiastical enclosure at SE. It consists of the cropmarks of two fosses traceable NE-E-SW around a D-shaped area (int. dims c. 32m NE-SW; c. 10m NW-SE; ext. dims c. 50m NE-SW; c. 18m NW-SE) but the two fosses are not visible inside the line of the ecclesiastical enclosure. The Google features were first reported by Simon Dowling. 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: 5 April, 2012 Amended: 28 February 2020