Church in Ballingly

Located on a slight bluff in the valley of the N-S Corock River, with an arm of the meandering river c. 80m to the W. This is the parish church of Ballingly within a rectangular enclosure (dims. 45m E-W; 40m N-S) defined by field banks on all sides except the N where there is a scarp. According to a Visitation by Thomas Ram, the Protestant bishop of Ferns, in 1615 there was no priest and no chancel (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 271). There is no evidence of burials now but even c. 1840 there were very few graves visible, according to John O’Donovan (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 2, 215). The church is a rectangular structure (int. dims. 16.9m E-W; 5.75m N-S) but only the W gable with a double bellcote and a lancet window survived intact in 1988 with the adjacent part of the N wall (H 3m) that has a round headed doorway (Wth 1.18m; H 2.27m) in green stone towards its W end. The other walls (max. H c. 1.5m) have many gaps, probably representing the location of collapsed features. There is a blocked doorway in the S wall opposite that in the N, which was described as pointed by O’Donovan, but a holy water stoup bearing a carved face is on its E side. There is an altar (dims c. 1.8m x 1.05m; H c. 0.6m) at the E end of the church. A granite stone (L 2.05m; Wth 0.46-0.56m; T 0.28m) with chamfered edges on the underside is on top of the altar and may be a grave-slab placed upside down. The base of a finial cross and a piscina fragment are also in the church. The W gable fell in the late 1990s and has now been cleared away. The site of Lady's Well is c. 100m to the N. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). 2013