Wrought Iron Gates - St. Mary's Church of Ireland
These gates are the oldest pieces of wrought iron
remaining in Dungarvan. We are fortunate
that we have details of their construction from the Vestry minutes dated 8 July
1795:
The several sums of Twelve pounds for an Iron-gate to
the church-yard, and the sum of Eight pounds for finishing the flagging of the
Ayles of the church, and completing the railing in of the Chancel & a new
Communion table, and repairing the Church-yard wall & completing the
Bulwark..
The cemetery contains one of the oldest remains of a
non-domestic building in Dungarvan. A
surviving gable of the pre-Reformation parish church of St Mary the Virgin, records of which exist from the 1300s. In
the 17th century this church was mostly destroyed during the
Cromwellian occupation of Dungarvan. The
Dungarvan historian Charles Smith noted in 1746:
Formerly the Parish Church was a large building with a
high steeple, but the whole was demolished by Cromwell. It is at present
rebuilt on the ground where the chancel of the Old Church stood.
This 18th century building was replaced or
rebuilt in the 1830s with a Gothic style church designed by James Pain and
built with a grant from the Board of First Fruits. The plans and elevations dated 1835 can be
viewed on:
archdrawing.ireland.anglican.org However, planning for the church began
in February 1825 when the vestry meeting approved a plan by James Pain to
enlarge and improve the existing church. It is possible that Pain did not start from
scratch and in fact remodeled the existing structure.
The main gates have lost their central curlicue
ornament which should be replaced. There
is also a smaller side gate of the same pattern. The main gates hang from fine sandstone
pillars. Unfortunately, this fine period piece is marred by poles and signs at
present and their repositioning should be considered.
The iron railings with two gates which flank either
side of the path through the cemetery were the subject of much controversy when
they were erected in 1910. This path was
viewed as a right of way by locals, but the cemetery was being used to graze
donkeys, horses, goats and mules and card playing on the tombs was a regular
occurrence! It was all the subject of a
court case.
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| Drawing by W. Fraher |
