2024:484 - St Patrick's Graveyard, Waterford, Waterford

St Patrick’s Gateway Centre were allocated funds by Waterford City and County Council to resurface its garden paths, install benches and create a sensory garden under the Community Recognition Fund (CRF) 2023. The Methodist Church, which owns St. Patrick’s site, has leased it to the St Patrick’s Gateway Centre Ltd. St Patrick’s church and graveyard are located within the site of the walled medieval city of Waterford. The entrance to the site is from St Patrick Street. Waterford Garda Station, the former County Jail on the site of St. Patrick’s Fort, is located to the immediate west.

The graveyard surrounds St Patrick’s church on three sides. The area in the south-east corner, where the works took place, measures approximately 15m x 7m and it had been used in the recent past as a general compost and dump area. The paths in the southern section of the graveyard vary in width from 1-1.3m.

The project comprised the resurfacing of the existing paths in the southern section of the graveyard, the installation of new benches and clearance of the overgrowth and rubbish from the south-east corner and, with the aid of some new planting, the creation of a sensory garden. The work was undertaken by hand and no digging took place below the original ground level. The waste was removed off site and the organic soil was utilised for planting. The existing gravestones were not disturbed in any way.

During the course of removing some of the old compost and rubbish three small stone fragments were recorded. Two of them were fragments of headstones probably dating to the 19^th century and one was a small architectural fragment. The first fragment (0.32m x 0.25m) was from the upper left hand side of a headstone with the word RequestCa visible under a portion of a sunburst. The initials M D were carved on the second fragment (0.3m x 0.35m). The third is a small cut fragment, probably part of a jamb stone, 0.09m high with two chamfers, 0.08m wide. The fragments were left in situ in the graveyard.

No other features, or artefacts were recorded while monitoring the works associated with the installation of new sensory garden in the graveyard.