Burial ground, Ballynoe, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Burial Grounds

Burial ground, Ballynoe, Co. Cork

In a pasture field in north Cork, on an east-facing slope, there is a patch of ground that local people have long understood to be a burial place, yet the earth gives almost nothing away.

No headstones, no kerbing, no visible grave cuts; only a stony, uneven surface and a tangle of overgrowth mark out an irregular area roughly seventeen metres across. The field itself carries the Irish name Pairc na Cille, meaning something close to "the field of the church" or "the field of the graveyard", a class of placename that across Ireland often preserves a memory of ecclesiastical use long after any physical trace of a building has vanished.

The site was noted by a researcher named Bowman in 1934, who recorded it as the location of both a church and a burial ground with a diameter of around twenty-eight yards. That earlier church, apparently associated with this ground, has its own separate record, suggesting the two features were once understood as a pair: a small early or medieval religious enclosure and its accompanying cemetery. Such pairings are common in the Irish landscape, where a modest church, perhaps timber-built or long since robbed for stone, could leave behind little more than a field name and a folk memory. The absence of visible burials does not mean the ground is empty; unexcavated early cemeteries frequently preserve remains well below a surface that appears unremarkable to the eye.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Burial ground, Ballynoe, Co. Cork. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement