Ballyduff Grave Yd. — An Baile Dubh

Ballyduff Church: In 1615 the parsonage of 'Balliduff’, Sir Richard Boyle's gift, was 'waste and worth nothing' (Royal Visitation), but the church was included in a list of parochial churches in the diocese in 1622 (TCD Ms 2158, 94). Though remains of the building were extant in the graveyard here c. 1837 (Lewis, 133), no trace of any features remained in 1841 (OSL). The site lies on the N side of the peninsula, near Brandon Bay. In 2010 a graveyard survey carried out by Laurence Dunne recorded the following details: 'Ballyduff Church and Graveyard is situated on the N side of the Dingle Peninsula and 10km west of the Castlegregory and 14.5km NE of Dingle. Ballyduff Church and Graveyard is a protected site, recorded in the Record of Monuments and Places (KE036-066----). The graveyard at Ballyduff comprises an old medieval burial ground and a new modern section attached at the S. The new graveyard section was opened possibly in the early 1950’s as the two earliest graves recorded there date to 1953. The old medieval burial ground has no pathways and is in a very poor state of repair with virtually every one of the twenty-five tombs recorded there in a poor dilapidated state of repair. Many of the tombs are either collapsed or partially collapsed and all, bar two, lack any named memorial plaque. Furthermore, within the old burial ground there are a number of exposed lintelled graves, several of which are open and collapsed. The old graveyard is studded with one hundred and eight small unnamed gravemarkers, architectural fragments and loose stones throughout. The entrance comprises two modern black painted iron gates set between two square capped and rendered piers in very good order with a simple squeeze-stile immediately beside the right hand or E pier. The old medieval section of Ballyduff Graveyard is bounded by a low (0.8m - 1.0m) random rubble wall of local sandstone bedded in mortar and capped with ‘soldiers’ a NE-SW section of which now separates the old burial ground from the new. A step-stile provides able bodied access into the old burial ground. Otherwise access is gained through a ragged breach at the W end of the separating old boundary wall that is difficult and uneven underfoot. Several of the capping soldiers along the dividing boundary wall have also been robbed out. Only two named tombs, 32 and 55, were recorded of which one is only partially legible (32-Moynihan) while the other plaque simply reads O’Connor, Kilcummin Beg. Both tombs are of the strong-box type and are in poor state of preservation, particularly the Moynihan tomb (55) where many of its basal stones have been robbed out or fallen. Furthermore, examination of its fabric discovered a large dressed architectural fragment (291) from the medieval church of Ballyduff. Twenty-three unnamed tombs were recorded in various states of disrepair. The tombs are mainly house-shaped or upturned-boat style while a few are of the strong-box variety. There are 26 lintelled graves dispersed around the old burial ground partially exposed, open or collapsed. Many of them are marked with unhewn unnamed headstones, medieval architectural fragments and archaeological artefacts. There were eighty-nine named and legible headstones recorded at Ballyduff graveyard associated with formal grave settings. There were one hundred and eight unnamed headstones (HWN) in total recorded in the course of this survey. All of the unnamed headstones are simple grave markers of unhewn local sandstone and are disposed around the entirety of the old burial ground. Some of them mark a number of lintelled graves that are partially exposed on the surface especially around the south side of the ruined church. There is a marked concentration at the extreme N corner of the old burial graveyard that may reflect a famine burial area. Forty three architectural fragments were recorded. Many of which have been re-used in tomb construction while four fragments (268-271) were reused as a grave setting near the remains of the medieval church and the remainder used as headstones for lintelled and other graves. Some lie loose on the ground. Ten architectural fragments are visible in tomb 46 alone. A group of four (263 a, b, c, d) form part of the north side of the tomb, while three others (260, 261 & 262) are built into and beside the east gable of tomb 46. Three others are partially visible at the SW corner of the tomb. The medieval architectural fragments are all of local red sandstone, predominantly squared dressed building stones of which some are most likely quoins. Others are more difficult to assign to particular elements of the features of the church as not enough of them are visible in their current reused context within the fabric of the tombs. Possibly the most definitive and finely carved architectural fragments is the head of a very fine ogee window (251) reused as a gravemarker at the E side of the old burial ground in front of lintelled grave 469. The ogee window head dates from the 15th century. Another of the architectural fragments is a complete Holy Water stoup (254) reused as a burial marker on lintelled grave 457 within the E limits of the ruined medieval church. Preliminary examination suggests that it is of the projecting basin type and not intra-mural' (Dunne 2010, 1-10). See attached plan and photographs courtesy of Laurence Dunne. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 988. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 4 July 2022