Site of Church — Rathmacknee Great

Situated on a slight rise in a low-lying landscape. The church of St. Martin at Rathmacknee was granted by the bishop to the Augustinian canons of All Hallows (All Saints) (DU018-02004-) in Dublin in 1333, confirming an earlier grant of William Marshall (c. 1200), and it was still listed amongst its possessions in 1538 (Hore 1949, 23). The bishop retained the right of installing new clergy in the parish. In 1460, an ecclesiastical court, convened by Archdeacon Nevelle and held at the church of St. Nicholas (WX045-012007-) in Clonmines, found a candidate for the Rathmakcnee church unworthy (Doyle 1925). According to a Visitation by Thomas Ram, the Protestant bishop of Ferns, in 1615 the vicar, Patrick Kelly, was guilty of adultery and deprived of office but the state of the church is not recorded (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 267). This is the site of the parish church of Rathmacknee within a subrectangular graveyard (dims c. 40-50m E-W; c. 30-40m N-S) defined by masonry walls except at the W where there is an earthen bank with trees. Part of the W wall (L 3.3m) and adjacent part of the S wall (L 3.5m) survive (H c. 0.5m) in the graveyard that also has the ruins of the Church of Ireland church of Rathmacknee that was built in 1813 (Lewis 1837, vol. 2, 502). A fragment of a window jamb is used as a grave-marker. I the graveyard there is also a sandstone chamfered graveslab (dims 2.23m x 0.38-0.52m; H 0.25m) with a pointed head. It has an incised cross that has a three-step calvary at the base and a double ring surrounding a diamond shape at the head. Beside it here is a trapezoidal limestone graveslab (dims 1.92m x 0.33-0.56m; H 0.21-0.5m) with chamfered edges and a cross in relief that has a knop below the crux and fleur-de-lys terminals. It has a secondary inscription commemorating a George Walsh who died in 1757. (FitzGerald 1903) According to John O’Donovan writing c. 1840 the graveyard was within a rath (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 291) that is depicted on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map as an earthen bank or double bank surviving NW-NE of the graveyard (ext. c. 100m), but if this is an early ecclesiastical enclosure there is no other evidence of an early origin for the church. Rathmacknee tower house (WX0420929001-) and bawn (WX042-029005-) are c. 30m to the N, and the site of St Martin's Well (WX042-029003-) is c. c. 100m to the NE. 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: 27 June, 2013 Amended: 16 August, 2013; 2 Sep. 2013