What is recorded here

Ecclesiastical enclosure in Ballynakill stands on a wet, south-west facing slope beside a stream, marking a sacred boundary rather than a defensive one. A low earthen bank and shallow ditch still curve around the church and graveyard, preserving the shape of a place where people gathered to pray, bury their dead and belong to one another. The land may have swallowed much of the original bank, but the enclosure remains visible enough to imagine the life that moved through it.

On a SW facing slope in poorly drained pasture, c. 200m to the NW of a stream. This possible ecclesiastical enclosure (c. 200m ENE-WSW; c. 180m NNW-SSE) is visible on an aerial photograph (CUCAP 1970, BDK 93) to the N, E, S and W of the church (LF013-045002-) and graveyard (LF013-045009-). Described in 1975 (SMR file) as 'the curve of a probable large earthen enclosure bank’ that was visible in the field to the W of the graveyard and could be traced as far the roadway to the NW. It is now defined by a low earthen bank (Wth 3m; H 0.2m), that is reduced to a scarp in places, and an external fosse (Wth 1m; ext. D 0.3m) in the field to the E of the graveyard. Earthworks (LF013-045008-) in this field and in the adjoining fields to the NE, E and W of the enclosure appear to be associated with land-reclamation schemes. Five cross-slabs (LF013-045004-, LF013-045010-, LF013-045011-, LF013-045012-, LF013-045013-) and two bullaun stones (LF013-045006-, LF013-045005-) are associated. (McNamee 1940b, 40-41; 1942b, 47-60; ITA Survey 1944; English 1971, 148) Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 4 June 2012

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