St. Mary's Church of Ireland

St. Mary’s Church in Dungarvan stands beside the sea, its graveyard hidden behind an old stone wall on Emmett Street. The present building dates from about 1828, but the west gable preserves five circular openings from the much older parish church of St. Mary the Virgin, whose records reach back to the 1300s. During the Civil War of 1642, rebels under Captain Fennell destroyed the interior and used the church as a stable and prison for Protestant inhabitants. Today the place remains peaceful, with ancient gravestones, a Ryland family tomb, and a memorial for the Moresby shipwreck of 1895, while the ocean still washes the churchyard banks at high water.