Ecclesiastical site, Ballintaggart, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Ecclesiastical Sites

Ecclesiastical site, Ballintaggart, Co. Cork

Beneath an industrial complex in County Cork lies what was once considered one of the principal early church sites in the south-west of Ireland.

There is nothing to see now, no stone, no outline, no marker of any kind, and that absence is itself part of the story. A place that functioned as a parish for roughly seven centuries has been so thoroughly erased that its exact location can only be inferred from old maps and passing references in the writings of travellers and clergymen.

The site is associated with Rosbeg, a parish recorded from around 1100 AD until the close of the eighteenth century, and also known as Teampall Breacáin, a name that survives in the modern townland of Ballybricken. By October 1700, when Bishop Dive Downes passed through the area, the church had already long since collapsed. He recorded it simply as "a heap of rubbish in Mr. Abraham Dickson's orchard at Ballbricken," a description that captures both the physical state of the ruin and how thoroughly it had slipped from significance. Later, in 1918, a writer named O'Leary placed an early Irish church and graveyard in the neighbouring townland of Ballintaggart, describing it as sitting "on the lawn before Mr. Bird's house." The 1842 Ordnance Survey six-inch map shows a walled garden to the north-west of Ballybricken House, positioned just inside Ballintaggart townland, and this is thought to be the same location Downes and O'Leary were each, in their own time, gesturing towards. Despite its obscurity by the twentieth century, the site was catalogued by Hurley in 1982 as one of the significant early ecclesiastical sites in the region, which makes its subsequent fate, total obliteration by industrial development, all the more striking.

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 Ecclesiastical site, Ballintaggart, 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