site of Church — Courthoyle Old

Located at the NW foothills of Carrickbyrne Hill, and at the S edge of a small E-W valley with the stream c. 170m to the N. The chapel of Hoel of Karrothobren (Carrickbyrne) is mentioned in the description of the boundaries of the forest of Ross in a charter of Richard Marshal dated 1232-3 (Orpen 1934, 55), and it may have been the parish church of a parish that was subsumed into Adamstown parish by the 17th century and later into Newbawn parish. A small cairn (dims. 2m x 2m; H 0.8m) and the pointed head of a slit window is all that remains of the church, but there is also a granite bullaun stone (dims. 0.5m x 0.35m; H 0.25-0.3m) with a single basin (diam. 0.25-0.3m; D 0.1m) at the cairn. Nearby there is a shale cross (H 1.92m; Wth 0.57m; T 0.04-0.15m) with a wide stem (Wth 0.42m; H 1.35m), short arms (Wth 0.24-0.26m; L 0.1m) and a wheel-shaped head (diam. 0.47m) that has a slightly raised centre (diam. 0.27m) with a simple incised cross on the E face. These are within a rectangular graveyard (dims c. 40m E-W; c. 35m N-S) defined by earthen banks with an external stone facing on all sides except the W where there is a masonry wall at the roadside. The site of Tobermurry well (WX035-011----) is c. 170m to the N. Archaeological testing (97E0054) on the other side of the road failed to produce any related material (Henry 1998). 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: 23 October, 2012