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St Mogue, Fethard-on-Sea

Location
(52°12′2″N, 6°51′35″W)
Fethard-on-Sea
S 78 06
pre-1974 traditional (Republic of Ireland) Wexford
now Wexford
  • Tessa Garton

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Feature Sets
Description

The font is the only Romanesque feature in this nave and chancel church.

History

References to the church date from c.1200 but the church may predate the arrival of the Anglo-Normans as Ferns had claims apparently predating the earliest grants (Moore, Arch Survey, 157). The original location of the font is not known. Local tradition attributes it either to the Cistercian monastery at Tintern or Dunbrody (Pike, 1989, 14).

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

Although the font is said to have come from Dunbrody or Tintern, there appears to be no evidence for this. It also seems unlikely, as fonts were not generally required in Cistercian churches. Stalley (1987, 276) suggests a date of c.1200 for the font, and considers the Dunbrody provenance unlikely, unless it was made for the capella ante portas. The font is very similar to that at Carrick-on-Bannow, and is evidently a product of the same workshop.

Bibliography
P. Hore, The History of the Town and County of Wexford, Dublin, 1904, IV, 308-11.
M. Moore, Archaeological Inventory of Co. Wexford, Dublin, 1996, 157.
J. Pike, Medieval Fonts of Ireland, Greystones, 1989, 14.
R. Stalley, The Cistercian Monasteries of Ireland, London & New Haven, 1987, 276, n.17.