French Church

The Franciscan friary was established by 1245 and dissolved in 1540 when it consisted of a church and steeple with a cemetery, a hall, six chambers, a kitchen, two stables, a bake-house and four cellars (Bradley et al. 1989, vol. 2, 265-75). At least three chapels can be attested to in the documentary sources. The hospital of the Holy Ghost (WA009-005033-) was established in the nave of the church in 1545 and the building was used for Huguenot worship in the 18th century, thus its common name 'The French Church' (Mooney 1964; Harbison 1992b, 327).

The ruins comprise a nave (int. dims. 18.6m E-W; 7.05m N-S) and chancel (int. dim. 14.9m E-W) with a crossing-tower, while the remains of a S aisle and a sacristy N of the chancel are now inaccessible. The nave has four original windows in the N wall, which are now blocked, and an inserted two-light, cusped ogee-headed window at the W end of the N wall. The W wall, which may have been rebuilt, has a pointed doorway with a large, outwardly splaying door above which probably gave access to the 16th-century hospital (WA009-005033-). The S wall has three pointed arches (all blocked) which led to the aisle, of which only the E end survives. There is a four-light ogee-headed window in the E wall and a three-light window in the S wall of this aisle. The chancel has three lancet windows in the E wall and three twin-light windows, one of which is ogee-headed, in the S wall. The N chancel wall does not retain any original features. The five-storey crossing-tower is complete with stepped battlements, but is inaccessible. The ground level has a ribbed groin vault overhead and there is a string course over the second floor. The fourth floor has two-light pointed openings with transoms in each wall. There are twenty graveslabs or fragments of tombs within the church (WA009-005076- to WA009-005095-) mainly dating to the late 16th/early 17th centuries and there are records of two others (WA009-005096-; WA009-005097-). An armorial plaque (WA009-005099-) and four decorated corbels also survive.

Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H. (1989) Urban archaeology Survey of Waterford City and County, 2 vols. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works.