St, Vogues Chapel in ruins — St. Vogue's

The church is marked on the 1839 and 1940 eds of the OS 6-inch map and it is described in gothic lettering as ‘St. Vogue’s Chapel’ on both. It is situated at the crest of a NE-facing slope, and is listed as the chapel of St. Vake by Synnott writing c. 1680 (Hore 1862, 69; 1921, 60). Much of the stone of the church was removed in 1803 to build a Catholic church at Lady’s Island (Walsh 1921-5). Stokes (1893) equated the local name Vake or Vauk with the French saint Vogue, who is associated with Lan Veoc, south of the bay of Douarnenez, in Brittany, claiming Vogue for Ireland. However, Dalton (1920, 19-20) debunks the connection, and through the linguistics of what he calls the Flemish language of the Anglo-Norman settlers identifies the saint as St. Féichín of Fore, Co. Westmeath (WM004-035003-). In one pedigree Féichín was of the Fothairt group of tribes, from which the Forth barony name is derived. He is associated with a number of early monasteries in the N and W of Ireland, including Ballysadare, Co. Sligo, Cong, Co. Mayo and Omey Island, Co. Galway, but he is principally associated with Fore (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 36). Féichín was thought to have been particularly devoted to the monastic life and to have died of the plague c. AD 665-8 (Ó Riain 2011, 309-11). The church is a rectangular structure oriented ENE-WSW (ext. dims 9.38m E-W; 4.9m N-S) with reconstructed walls (Wth 0.82-0.9m) surviving to a height of c. 1.4-1.6m, apart from a complete and original E gable (H 3.6m). It was conserved in the 1940s when much of the walling was re-built, and the only entrance (Wth 0.7m) is towards the W end of the N wall. There is a narrow round-headed E window (Wth 0.18m; H 1m) with a glazing-groove and pits for glazing-bars in a lintelled embrasure (Wth 1.1m; H 1.6m). The remains of a statue shelf (Wth 0.3m) is in the wall to its S and a niche (Wth 0.3m; H 0.6m; D 0.3m) is on its N side. There is a small, damaged window (Wth 0.25m) in a lintelled embrasure (Wth 0.75m; H 0.91m) towards the E end of the S wall, and a masonry altar (dims 1.82m x 0.78m; H 0.9m) is built against the E wall. The church is within a subcircular or D-shaped and grass-covered enclosure (dims 48m NE-SW; 42m NW-SE) defined by an earthen bank (Wth 2.5-3.5m; int. H 0.8-1.2m; ext. H 1.2-1.5m) S-W-NE that is also the townland boundary with Nethertown S-W-N. The perimeter is curtailed by old farm buildings at SE and by a N-S farm track at E. As the original entrance to this enclosure is not identified, it may have been on the E side. Although the stratigraphic evidence is not conclusive, excavation (E000143) determined that the earliest internal features are probably associated with the use of the enclosure. Excavation also discovered that the bank was accompanied by a shallow outer fosse (at W: Wth of top c. 2m; D 0.5m). The bank had an original external stone-facing at W, but that visible at N was more recent (O’Kelly et al. 1975, 23-4). The church and much of the enclosure was excavated in 1975, when three phases of activity were identified. The first included the remains of a small wooden oratory (dims. 2.25m x 1.5m) defined by post-holes. It is situated within the walls of the church and its long sides are parallel with those of the church. There were other post- and stake-holes in the area and a larger structure might have been hidden beneath the walls of the stone church. The oratory was covered by a layer of burnt material, suggesting that it had been destroyed by fire (ibid. 20-2). Charcoal from three adjacent post-holes of the oratory produced a C14 date of 1290 +- 80 bp while a charcoal sample from a contemporary trench produced a C14 date of 1390 +- 80 bp (ibid. 62-3). Indications of a second structure, perhaps a house site, were preserved in sections of three post-holes connected by a trench (L 3m) that survived in the cut for a later garden wall c. 10m SE of the church, and associated layers of burning (ibid. 22-3, fig. 10). A second phase is represented by the base of the walls of the present church together with the base of the altar and much of the E wall, including the window. The church was built on a plinth that survived under the E, S and W walls and rested directly over the burnt layer associated with the demise of the oratory. The original doorway at N was wider than the reconstruction of the 1940s and the original threshold stone (dims c. 1.45m x 0.60-0.65m; H c. 0.25m) was in place (ibid. 27-9; fig. 15). The interior was filled with rubble from the demise of the church. Evidence of habitation was found in the SW and SE quadrants of the enclosure. About 4m SE of the church is a rectangular house (ext. dims 5.4m N-S; 4.5m E-W; int. dims 4.8m N-S; 3.3m E-W) defined by the remains of double-faced stone walls (Wth 0.5-1m) that were probably clay-built above the foundation, but its S end is truncated by a later E-W wall. An entrance at E is suggested by additional paving in this area and the recovery of a spud-stone, but there is no evidence of a hearth. The house is associated with fragments of walls sub-dividing the interior of the enclosure. The ceramics associated with this structure suggest a later medieval date and were recovered in deposits with a large content of limpet and periwinkle shells (ibid. 30-4). After the abandonment of the church and the house the enclosure was used for the burial of drowned mariners, and the names of ships that sank near Carnsore Point, such as the ‘William’ of Weymouth in 1818 which has the only headstone, the ‘Ceres’ in 1866, the ‘Langdale’ in 1879, and the ‘Sem’, a Hungarian ship wrecked in 1884, are known locally to have provided interments (Walsh 1921-5). Seventeen burials were excavated in the northern part of the enclosure, and a further ten, mostly infants, were recorded inside the church. Redeposited human remains were recovered throughout the excavated area, but an adult burial within the church is thought to pre-date the earliest oratory structure (O’Kelly et al. 1975, 34-6). 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: 8 April, 2014