On Thursday, 22nd January 2026, a new information board was unveiled at Old Faithlegg Church. The event was the fulfilment of a promise made over twenty years ago – one that we made when fundraising to maintain and preserve the fabric of the 13th Century Norman era church. Built by the Aylward family, who had their castle nearby, it was reputed to have fallen into ruin after the family were sent “to Hell or to Connaught” by the troops of Oliver Cromwell.

So, about the year 2000, a small subcommittee was formed to seek to halt the destruction of the old church at Faithlegg. At the time, it was used as a store for tools, locked securely behind a wrought iron gate, but its ivy-clad walls were crumbling, and it was felt that either the structure be preserved or knocked down as it was a threat to the gravestones that were located all around it, including some of the oldest in the graveyard. Not that it would have been allowed to be knocked – but official Ireland would have allowed it to crumble. A subcommittee was required, because the main graveyard committee were so busy with the ongoing work of developing and maintaining the clean up and lay out of the graveyard.

The subcommittee was made up of Pat Murphy – AKA the ‘Clerk of Works’. Kevin Ryan – our surveyor, builder and expert par excellence. Damien McLellan, our scribe and yours truly – for the grunt work, I guess, although Pat said it was primarily for my good looks 😉

Kevin completed an excellent report (Feb 2000) which was central to securing funds of £10,000 from the Heritage Council and then we were set to the task of matching this. It seemed an uphill struggle in such a small rural area, but the community responded. There was a lot of pressure, however. We got the funds conditionally; it had to be spent by Nov 2021 and so even before we had the total required, we had to contract the builders. Eventually, we raised £15,000, and the work was carried out under Kevin’s supervision by a top bunch of lads.

It’s only natural, but after all the pressure, we sat back after the works were completed. But that promise to thank people never went away. This time, it was Damien who took the lead. In 2024, he rallied Kevin, Pat and me to the cause. We met with the current Graveyard committee and, with their blessing, put a plan in place. Although Pat passed on in January of 2025, I think he would have been pleased with the results. What we have now is a bespoke information board, with QR codes to Kevin’s initial report, a wonderfully researched history by Julian Walton and Damien’s piece on the landing of Henry II for historical context on the location of the church.

We were very fortunate to have the assistance of John Tierney of Eachtra Archaeological Projects who generously created the dynamic QR codes which are located here on the Tides & Tales website.  The board was designed, created and erected by Signatec in Kilkenny, funded very generously by the Heritage Officer of Waterford CIty & Co Council, Bernadette Guest and unveiled by Pat Murphy’s son Paul, with his aunt, Sr Ann Murphy. We had hoped that Pat’s wife Margaret could attend. However, she was ill at the time, but subsequently saw a video of the event taken by her grandson. Margaret has since died, January 28th 2026, We extend our deepest sympathy to the family.

The information board is the final step in a journey started well over twenty years ago, and one that hopefully will mean the next generation will appreciate all the work that has gone into preserving this piece of our local history. Needless to say, these journeys never truly end. We spotted some further interesting features in the church that are prompting further inquiries. And Kevin is looking at some works to the Spire – and we were wondering about St Ita’s Well and its presentation. The spirit of Pat Murphy lives on.