A strange gabled wall in a picture-perfect graveyard

St Mary’s Church is located in the coastal town of Dungarvan. Its graveyard is worth a visit for the beautiful views alone which were much admired and painted by visitors during the 18th and 19th centuries. In the graveyard, you can find many interesting gravestones including a box tomb commemorating the Ryland family of Dungarvan and a memorial to mark the site of a mass grave for souls who drowned when a sailing ship called The Moresby sank in 1895. Also on the grounds stands an old gable wall containing 5 circular openings. These have perplexed local historians for years. It now seems that these are the last surviving remains of a pre-reformation parish church from the 1300s called ‘St. Mary the Virgin’. It is now believed that it was destroyed in 1642 by the Irish rebel Captain Fennel who used it as a stable and a prison for Protestants during the civil war.