diff --git a/pmd-core/pom.xml b/pmd-core/pom.xml
index f762c76d97..55b84f03c8 100644
--- a/pmd-core/pom.xml
+++ b/pmd-core/pom.xml
@@ -121,6 +121,11 @@
             <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.hamcrest</groupId>
+            <artifactId>hamcrest-library</artifactId>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>pl.pragmatists</groupId>
             <artifactId>JUnitParams</artifactId>
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/Attribute.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/Attribute.java
index 9e2de28f7a..0e7a9b721f 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/Attribute.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/Attribute.java
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath;
 
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.Node;
 
@@ -14,6 +18,11 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.Node;
  */
 public class Attribute {
 
+
+    private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(Attribute.class.getName());
+    private static final ConcurrentMap<String, Boolean> DETECTED_DEPRECATED_ATTRIBUTES = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
+
+
     private static final Object[] EMPTY_OBJ_ARRAY = new Object[0];
     private Node parent;
     private String name;
@@ -38,13 +47,17 @@ public class Attribute {
         if (value != null) {
             return value;
         }
+
+        if (method.isAnnotationPresent(Deprecated.class) && LOG.isLoggable(Level.WARNING)
+                && DETECTED_DEPRECATED_ATTRIBUTES.putIfAbsent(getLoggableAttributeName(), Boolean.TRUE) == null) {
+            LOG.warning("Use of deprecated attribute '" + getLoggableAttributeName() + "' in xpath query");
+        }
+
         // this lazy loading reduces calls to Method.invoke() by about 90%
         try {
-            return method.invoke(parent, EMPTY_OBJ_ARRAY);
-        } catch (IllegalAccessException iae) {
+            return value = method.invoke(parent, EMPTY_OBJ_ARRAY);
+        } catch (IllegalAccessException | InvocationTargetException iae) {
             iae.printStackTrace();
-        } catch (InvocationTargetException ite) {
-            ite.printStackTrace();
         }
         return null;
     }
@@ -65,6 +78,10 @@ public class Attribute {
         return stringValue;
     }
 
+    private String getLoggableAttributeName() {
+        return parent.getXPathNodeName() + "/@" + name;
+    }
+
     public String getName() {
         return name;
     }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AttributeAxisIterator.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AttributeAxisIterator.java
index 27a4800b7d..2096309099 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AttributeAxisIterator.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AttributeAxisIterator.java
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ public class AttributeAxisIterator implements Iterator<Attribute> {
         return new Attribute(node, m.name, m.method);
     }
 
+
+
+
     private static final Set<Class<?>> CONSIDERED_RETURN_TYPES 
         = new HashSet<>(Arrays.<Class<?>>asList(Integer.TYPE, Boolean.TYPE, Double.TYPE, String.class, Long.TYPE, Character.TYPE, Float.TYPE));
     
@@ -109,10 +112,8 @@ public class AttributeAxisIterator implements Iterator<Attribute> {
     
     protected boolean isAttributeAccessor(Method method) {
         String methodName = method.getName();
-        boolean deprecated = method.getAnnotation(Deprecated.class) != null;
 
-        return !deprecated
-               && CONSIDERED_RETURN_TYPES.contains(method.getReturnType())
+        return CONSIDERED_RETURN_TYPES.contains(method.getReturnType())
                && method.getParameterTypes().length == 0
                && !methodName.startsWith("jjt")
                && !FILTERED_OUT_NAMES.contains(methodName);
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/AbstractNodeTest.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/AbstractNodeTest.java
index c0deef7585..f17a8c2a3e 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/AbstractNodeTest.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/AbstractNodeTest.java
@@ -6,15 +6,22 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
+import org.jaxen.JaxenException;
 import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.junit.JavaUtilLoggingRule;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.Attribute;
+
 import junitparams.JUnitParamsRunner;
 import junitparams.Parameters;
 
+
 /**
  * Unit test for {@link AbstractNode}.
  */
@@ -23,6 +30,9 @@ public class AbstractNodeTest {
     private static final int NUM_CHILDREN = 3;
     private static final int NUM_GRAND_CHILDREN = 3;
 
+    @Rule
+    public JavaUtilLoggingRule loggingRule = new JavaUtilLoggingRule(Attribute.class.getName());
+
     // Note that in order to successfully run JUnitParams, we need to explicitly use `Integer` instead of `int`
 
     private Integer[] childrenIndexes() {
@@ -65,9 +75,10 @@ public class AbstractNodeTest {
         return new DummyNode(nextId());
     }
 
-    private static void addChild(final Node parent, final Node child) {
+    private static Node addChild(final Node parent, final Node child) {
         parent.jjtAddChild(child, parent.jjtGetNumChildren()); // Append child at the end
         child.jjtSetParent(parent);
+        return parent;
     }
 
     @Before
@@ -216,4 +227,25 @@ public class AbstractNodeTest {
         // Check that this node still does not have any children
         assertEquals(0, grandChild.jjtGetNumChildren());
     }
+
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDeprecatedAttributeXPathQuery() throws JaxenException {
+        class MyRootNode extends DummyNode implements RootNode {
+
+            private MyRootNode(int id) {
+                super(id);
+            }
+        }
+
+        addChild(new MyRootNode(nextId()), new DummyNodeWithDeprecatedAttribute(2)).findChildNodesWithXPath("//dummyNode[@Size=1]");
+
+        String log = loggingRule.getLog();
+
+        assertTrue(log.contains("deprecated"));
+        assertTrue(log.contains("attribute"));
+        assertTrue(log.contains("dummyNode/@Size"));
+    }
+
+
 }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/DummyNodeWithDeprecatedAttribute.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/DummyNodeWithDeprecatedAttribute.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f6f67d8f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/DummyNodeWithDeprecatedAttribute.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/**
+ * BSD-style license; for more info see http://pmd.sourceforge.net/license.html
+ */
+
+package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast;
+
+/**
+ * @author Clément Fournier
+ * @since 6.3.0
+ */
+public class DummyNodeWithDeprecatedAttribute extends DummyNode {
+
+
+    public DummyNodeWithDeprecatedAttribute(int id) {
+        super(id);
+    }
+
+    // this is the deprecated attribute
+    @Deprecated
+    public int getSize() {
+        return 2;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AttributeAxisIteratorTest.java b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AttributeAxisIteratorTest.java
index 89bdc7772d..e8326ca32d 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AttributeAxisIteratorTest.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AttributeAxisIteratorTest.java
@@ -4,19 +4,33 @@
 
 package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath;
 
+
+import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import org.hamcrest.collection.IsMapContaining;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.DummyNode;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.DummyNodeWithDeprecatedAttribute;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.Node;
+
 
 /**
  * Unit test for {@link AttributeAxisIterator}
  */
 public class AttributeAxisIteratorTest {
 
+    @Test
+    public void testAttributeDeprecation() {
+        Node dummy = new DummyNodeWithDeprecatedAttribute(2);
+        assertThat(toMap(new AttributeAxisIterator(dummy)), IsMapContaining.hasKey("Size"));
+    }
+
     /**
      * Test hasNext and next.
      */
@@ -27,18 +41,24 @@ public class AttributeAxisIteratorTest {
         dummyNode.testingOnlySetBeginColumn(1);
 
         AttributeAxisIterator it = new AttributeAxisIterator(dummyNode);
+        Map<String, Attribute> atts = toMap(it);
+        Assert.assertEquals(7, atts.size());
+        assertTrue(atts.containsKey("BeginColumn"));
+        assertTrue(atts.containsKey("BeginLine"));
+        assertTrue(atts.containsKey("FindBoundary"));
+        assertTrue(atts.containsKey("Image"));
+        assertTrue(atts.containsKey("SingleLine"));
+        assertTrue(atts.containsKey("EndColumn"));
+        assertTrue(atts.containsKey("EndLine"));
+    }
+
+
+    private Map<String, Attribute> toMap(AttributeAxisIterator it) {
         Map<String, Attribute> atts = new HashMap<>();
         while (it.hasNext()) {
             Attribute attribute = it.next();
             atts.put(attribute.getName(), attribute);
         }
-        Assert.assertEquals(7, atts.size());
-        Assert.assertTrue(atts.containsKey("BeginColumn"));
-        Assert.assertTrue(atts.containsKey("BeginLine"));
-        Assert.assertTrue(atts.containsKey("FindBoundary"));
-        Assert.assertTrue(atts.containsKey("Image"));
-        Assert.assertTrue(atts.containsKey("SingleLine"));
-        Assert.assertTrue(atts.containsKey("EndColumn"));
-        Assert.assertTrue(atts.containsKey("EndLine"));
+        return atts;
     }
 }
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/coverage/PMDCoverageTest.java b/pmd-java/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/coverage/PMDCoverageTest.java
index addf48577f..a4b82e3736 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/coverage/PMDCoverageTest.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/coverage/PMDCoverageTest.java
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ public class PMDCoverageTest {
 
             assertFalse("There was at least one exception mentioned in the output", output.getLog().contains("Exception applying rule"));
             assertFalse("Wrong configuration? Ruleset not found", output.getLog().contains("Ruleset not found"));
+            assertFalse("Some XPath rules use deprecated attributes", output.getLog().contains("Use of deprecated attribute"));
 
             String report = FileUtils.readFileToString(f);
             assertEquals("No processing errors expected", 0, StringUtils.countMatches(report, "Error while processing"));
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 456a9a74e8..48fc8fd04d 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -800,6 +800,12 @@ Additionally it includes CPD, the copy-paste-detector. CPD finds duplicated code
                 <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
                 <version>4.12</version>
             </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.hamcrest</groupId>
+                <artifactId>hamcrest-library</artifactId>
+                <version>1.3</version>
+                <scope>test</scope>
+            </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>pl.pragmatists</groupId>
                 <artifactId>JUnitParams</artifactId>