2009:823 - ST PATRICK’S CHURCH, WATERFORD, Waterford

At the request of the United Churches of St Patrick’s, test-excavations were undertaken as part of an assessment for a proposed extension to the 1771 St Patrick’s Church, Patrick’s Street, Waterford. St Patrick’s Church lies within the zone of archaeological constraint for Waterford city, is listed in the Urban Archaeology Survey of Waterford City and is a protected structure (RPS No. 382). The church sits near the summit of a small escarpment that rises to a height of c. 25m above the River Suir and within the medieval walled city. It is immediately adjacent to the extra-mural suburb of Irishtown, for which it acted as parish church. The dedication of the church to St Patrick is suggestive of a pre-Anglo-Norman origin – as is the case with the Domhnach Patrick in Kilkenny. Early churches were generally at the centre of a series of circular enclosures which defined and defended the ecclesiastical demesne and their line can often be fossilised in the modern street-pattern, as at Kilkenny, Armagh and Duleek. There is no sign of such a pattern in the modern street layout around the church, though the 1673 map of Waterford does show a very clear curving street to the north which may perhaps be significant in this regard. A well dedicated to the saint in the south-east of the graveyard may provide another possible indication of the site’s early medieval derivation. Evidence to assist with reconstructing the form of the post-conquest parish church is negligible. Pynnar’s map of St Patrick’s Fort (1625–6) and Phillip’s 1635 map show a twin-aisled church in the centre of the graveyard and a castellated tower is depicted at the west end of the structure on Pynnar’s map. Both these maps represent the church after the substantial repairs that were undertaken before 1615, following the despoliations of the Elizabethan army in 1603. In about 1771 the medieval church was torn down and the present structure raised. It was remodelled in the 1830s.
Four test-pits were excavated by hand to the rear (north) of the church. Articulated human burials were present at an average depth of 0.55m below the present ground level within three of the four excavated test-pits. The highest level at which they occurred was 24.55m OD in test-pit 2. A rectangular stone burial-vault measuring 5.4m long (min.) by 1.2m high (min.) was uncovered beneath the western entrance porch, and the vault and porch were constructed in the same building operation. The western wall of the nave was built on a stone footing which extended to the substratum. No artefactual or stratigraphical evidence was obtained to indicate its date of construction, though the wall and its footings would appear to be of the same build. There is nothing to suggest the wall is of medieval date, adding to the argument that the precursor to the present church was situated on a separate site within the churchyard. A previously undocumented brick burial vault was discovered in test-pit 3. It is envisaged a planning application to construct the extension will be lodged in 2010.