Church in Ballintober

The parish church of Ballintober is listed as Thorbirbrig in the ecclesiastical taxation of Elphin in 1306 (Cal. doc. Ire., vol. 5, 224). The church is mentioned in 1607, and it became the traditional burial place of the O'Conor Don. It is situated on a low ridge, in a low-lying position on a S-facing slope and it is at the S end of a rectangular graveyard (RO028-048007-) (dims 54m N-S; c. 51m E-W) defined by masonry walls that has been extended to the W. It is a rectangular structure (int. dims c. 16m E-W; 7.3m N-S) defined by the base of the W (H 1.4m), N (H 1.55m) and S (H 1.9m) walls, but much of the original facing and no features apart from a blocked doorway towards the W end of the S wall survive. A rectangular graveslab (RO027-048011-) (L 1.85m; Wth 0.86m) bearing an inscription in relief to John Rorke dated 1609 (M'Donnell 1921-5) is in the interior, and a rectangular graveslab (RO027-048012-) (H 1.5m; Wth 0.88m) which has a raised cross and the inscription 'CC 1634' is built into a tomb in the interior of the church. St Bridget's Well (RO027-048006-) is c. 30m to the SW, and a hollow ash tree (RO027-048013-) (Circumference 3.7m) on a mound (diam. 6m; H 1.2-2m) which has a masonry wall (Wth 0.6m; H 0.8-1.1m) around its base is preserved just outside the W boundary of the graveyard. Archaeological testing (02E0896) c. 100m SE of the graveyard failed to produce any related material (Morahan 2004).