What is recorded here

Grave Yd in County Cork holds living memory beside ruined Ballymartle church, its stone wall enclosing sixty metres of earth where unmarked graves outnumber dated headstones. The graveyard expanded southward around 1840 to serve the new C of I church, yet the ancient parish ruins still stand at its centre like a forgotten heartbeat. People may have walked these paths for centuries, burying children, parents and strangers beneath soil that never stopped receiving them.

On W side of road; subrectangular graveyard (60m E-W; 50m N-S) enclosed by stone wall; extended to S about 1840 to accommodate newly built C of I church. Still in use; earliest inscribed headstones noted date to 1770s; many low uninscribed grave markers. In centre ruins of ancient parish church of Ballymartle (CO098-02702-). C of I church built between 1837 and 1842: low-gabled rectangular church with plain buttresses on N and S walls flanking windows. Vestry/lobby added at W end and four-sided apse attached to E gable in 1870s (Cole 1903, 17); still in use. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East and South Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1994). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

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