The French Church on Greyfriars Street is the roofless shell of a Franciscan friary founded in 1241, one of the oldest surviving medieval religious structures in Waterford. The walls stand essentially complete, giving a clear impression of the original building's scale and plan. The interior is now an open space — grass between the walls, the sky for a ceiling — that has a particular melancholy beauty.
After the Franciscans were expelled in the sixteenth century, the building was used as a hospital, an almshouse, and eventually a place of worship for Waterford's Huguenot community, who gave it its current popular name. It later fell out of use and into ruin. The remains are in the care of the Office of Public Works and are accessible from Greyfriars Street.
The French Church is a short walk from Reginald's Tower, within the Viking Triangle.