On a hill in the townland of Ballinard, roughly half a mile south-east of the village of Herbertstown in County Limerick, all that remains of what was once a parish church is the graveyard that surrounded it. Locals never called it a church, in any case. By the time the Ordnance Survey officers came to record it, the site was known simply as "the Old Abbey," and it still is. The OS map of the period compounded the confusion by placing the church incorrectly to the north-east of the graveyard wall, a mistake that persisted into the revised edition.

The history of this small parish reaches back surprisingly far. The antiquarian T. J. Westropp, writing in 1904 and 1905, traced the name of the place through a sequence of medieval forms: Catherussoc in 1251, Cathyr Hussoc by 1287 when it was associated with Thomas de Clare, and Cathyryssok in 1325 when a Philip de Ade held it. The name itself is thought to derive from Cathair Fearoige, meaning "weasel's fort," which gives some sense of how old and layered this particular corner of Limerick is. A cathair, in Irish usage, typically refers to a stone fort or enclosure, suggesting the church may have been built within or beside an older structure entirely. By 1541 the living had passed through a grant to one Nic. Fannynge, and by 1578 a lease connected to Aney Commandery, a house of the Knights Hospitaller, brought it into yet another set of hands. The church was described as "uncovered" in 1615, and the tithes were still being administered as late as 1703, when they were granted to a W. Neave along with several neighbouring parishes.

The graveyard on the hill remains in active use, which means access is generally possible, though it sits in a working rural landscape and the approach may require a short walk from the road. There is nothing architectural to see at the church site itself; the interest lies in the absence, and in the long continuity of the burial ground around it. The disconnect between the documentary record, which runs for over four centuries, and the complete physical disappearance of the building is what makes the place quietly arresting. Visitors familiar with reading OS maps should note the recorded inaccuracy in the positioning of the church site and adjust their expectations accordingly.