St. Catherine’s Church
Walk amongst these elaborate ruins to discover medieval church architecture at its best.
A Wonderful Place of Worship for the Normans
St. Catherine’s Church is a wonderful example of medieval church architecture with some impressive features still intact. These include ornate windows and three connected limestone arches.
There is also a ‘bullaun stone’ within the ruins here. It is said that, in ancient times, rainwater which gathered in these large concave stones had healing properties. When the Normans settled in the area, the bullaun stones may have been taken inside the churches and used as Christian holy water fonts.
A Link to Ferns in North Wexford
The graves in the church ruins and graveyard span the centuries. In the northern corner of the chancel there is a medieval grave slab commemorating John Ingram, a Canon of Ferns in 1304. Ferns, in the north of County Wexford, was one of the main Norman strongholds in Ireland at the time. It is the home of another gem of Ireland’s Ancient East, Ferns Castle.
