Church (in ruins)

Within a graveyard (GA125-022002-) to the N of Ballynakill village. Described by O'Donovan in 1838 as a ruined church, the doorway in the W gable was of 'quadrangular form' and its sides were 'somewhat battered'. It was capped with two lintel stones that met 'nearly in the middle'. A breach in the centre of the E gable, one at each end of the N wall and one at the W end of the S wall marked the positions of windows (O’Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 503-4). The church (c. 14m E-W; c. 7m N-S; wall T 0.8m), rectangular in plan, is constructed of roughly worked coursed and mortared limestone and is densely overgrown with ivy. Only the S side-wall survives almost to its original height ( H 3-3.5m) and its internal face is rendered. The others walls (H 1-1.5m) are much lower. All that survives of the doorway is its base and no other architectural features are now visible. A number of burials and an 18th-century vault are visible in the interior. A bullaun stone, possibly associated with the church, noted on the grassy verge W side of the roadway, to the W of the church, has been moved and is now outside the St Joseph's R.C. church (GA125-068----) in Ballnakilll. See GA125-068001- for its present location. A castle (GA125-036----) lies c. 175m to SSE. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Updated by: Olive Alcock Date of revised upload: 27 July 2023