Burial Ground in Balla

Located in Balla village. An irregular-shaped graveyard (c. 40m E-W; c. 80m N-S along a narrow strip at SW) enclosed by a stone wall, and truncated on its E side by modern development, at E by a supermarket, and at SE by a community centre, which stands on the former site of a Roman Catholic chapel shown on the 1838 and 1929 OS 6-inch maps. A market square, bordered at W by a N–S terrace of houses, abuts the S–SW side of the graveyard, and the gently curving graveyard wall at W-NW is respected by a laneway leading to a holy well (MA090-024001-), which is located c. 50m to W. The N end of the graveyard backs onto a field of pasture. The grass-covered graveyard encompasses an elevated area at S and centre, from where a gentle slope falls to NW, N and NE. The majority of the graves are marked by horizontal grave slabs, but there are also upright headstones of plain or ‘Celtic cross’ type, and a few table tombs. There is a high density of graves in the N and E of the graveyard. Here grave slabs are positioned in close proximity, terraced into the natural slope, but with much displacement and slippage, and overlapping of slabs. In the central zone of the graveyard, the grave slabs are arranged in more evenly spaced, ordered rows, and at SW there is a relatively low density of graves. The majority of the grave slabs appear rather roughly cut, with no inscriptions evident, most likely due to weathering. Where dated inscriptions can be seen, they date to the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the earliest dated slabs, which appears to date to 1745, is a sandstone grave slab, in the SW of the graveyard. It has a design in rather crude low relief, which includes a skull, cross-bones, a coffin and a heart. A series of grave slabs are arranged in a radial fashion encircling the base of a round tower (MA090-024004-), which is located to SW of centre. A cross-slab (MA090-024008-), reused as a lintel, is built into a 15th/16th-century doorway on the N side of the round tower. A fragment of another cross-slab (MA090-024009-) is set upright in the ground in the N end of the graveyard. Lewis (1837) recorded that a small church (MA090-024010-) stood within the graveyard, near the round tower, but no trace of this survives. However, a stone altar (MA090-024011-), probably late medieval in date, which may be from that church, is located 16.4m NE of the round tower in the E half of the graveyard. The cross slabs and round tower attest to the presence of an early medieval monastery in Balla, said to have been founded in the early seventh century by St. Crónán., alias Mo-Chúa, who died in 637 AD. Attached images: MA090-024005-_01.JPG viewed from N MA090-024005-_02.JPG N end of graveyard MA090-024005-_03.JPG central section of graveyard MA090-024005-_04.JPG 18th-century graveslab Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 25 June 2018