Holy Cross Church (in Ruins) — Corkbeg

Near NE corner of graveyard (CO088-033001-), ivy-clad ruins of rectangular church (int. 16m E-W; 5.9m N-S). Door with pointed cut-stone arch, W of centre in S wall, set in lintelled embrasure; stone plaque with date 1587 set in S side of doorway. Human head carved in stone (H 0.2m; Wth 0.15m; D0.1m), much weathered, with bulbous eyes, set on exterior wall on E side of door arch. Central window in E wall, two rectangular lights divided by mullion; upper part of E gable over window fallen. Small window, withpointed light and lintelled embrasure, near E end of N wall; similar window opposite in S wall E ingoing with E ingoing has collapsed with E end of S wall. Blocked ope with round-arched embrasure head near W end of N wall probably inserted feature. Top of W gable 'chimney shaped' and may have supported bellcote. To S of E window, low projecting corbel with flat grooved top may have supported statue (see CO077-03702-). Interior overgrown, with numerous headstones, earliest noted dating from 1780s. Immediately outside E end of N wall is brick-vaulted mausoleum (6m N-S; 6.2m E-W), probably burial place of Roche family (Lewis 1837, vol. 1, 429). Parish church of Corkbeg, in repair 1615 but probably out of use by 1700 (Brady 1863, vol. 2, 180). New C of I church built in SW corner of graveyard 1843 (ibid., 181) but no longer evident. Replaced by new church built on site immediately to S of graveyard in 1881 (Cole 1903, 196), which is 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