Ballynaboley Church (in ruins)

On a N-facing slope with limited views due to rising ground, except to the NE. Ballynaboley tower house (KK024-040----) is located c. 230m to the NW. The medieval church is situated in the SW angle of a graveyard (KK024-042002-). When described by Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 485) the W gable and most of the N wall had ‘disappeared’, with a breach in the N wall indicating where the entrance was located. Carrigan (ibid.) also mentions, ‘a very small window in the east gable, damaged at the sides, but preserving on the outside its round arch turned with thin flags’. A rectangular church (ext. dims. 9.3m N-S; 18m E-W) constructed of large blocks of roughly coursed limestone (wall T 0.8m). The W end of the S wall (H 3.3m; L 2.5m) is the only significant upstanding portion of the church. The rest of the S wall is low and grass-covered (ext. H 0.5m). The N side-wall (ext. H 1.2m) has been breached midway along its length. The W gable (ext. H 0.7m) has collapsed inward and the E gable (H 1.1m) collapsed in c. 1960. The interior of the church is strewn with collapsed masonry and is overgrown with hawthorn and brambles. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 27 September 2021