Grave Yard — Ceathrú An Teampaill

Ballywiheen Church/Teampall Bhaile Bhoithín: The remains of a simple rectangular church are situated in a graveyard KE042-103002- near the foot of the E slopes of Croagh Marhin. The site is known locally by the name of the adjacent townland of Ballywiheen and was probably the parish church of Marhin which was in repair in 1615 (Royal Visitation). The graveyard contains several cross-inscribed grave-markers (KE042-103004-/011-), and a stone font (KE042-103----) lies inside the church (KE042-103001-). Reilig an Draghbháil, a calluragh burial ground (KE042-102----), lies about 75m to SW in Ballywiheen townland. In 2007 a graveyard survey carried out by Karen Buckley and Laurence Dunne recorded the following details about Ballywiheen graveyard; 'Ballywiheen church [KE042-103001-] and graveyard is located within the townland of Ballineanig Churchquarter, c.1km southeast of Ballyferriter village on the Dingle Peninsula. The graveyard is situated on the lower eastern slopes of Ballineanig Hill set back c.200m from a sweeping bend of the Ventry to Ballyferriter road. There are extensive views from the graveyard with Smerwick Harbour visible to the north while to the west-southwest, Cruach Mhárthain can be seen. The ruined church is located centrally within the graveyard and there is an obvious bias of more recent, modern graves to its north and older graves to its south. The cross slab recorded by the Dingle Survey is now standing loosely with the east window embrasure. There is no sign of the font fragments also recorded in the Dingle Survey (ibid) however, this may be due to the overgrown nature of the interior. The graveyard is bounded by low drystone walls of local sandstone with additional sheep-wire fencing. Flat sandstone capping slabs are laid across the top of the wall. The wall varies in height but is, in general, 1.1m high and a thickness of 0.75m. Some concrete is set between the capping slabs and other joints at intervals. The roadside entrance to the graveyard grounds is comprised of a pair of modern galvanised gates set between two square concrete capped piers. Two named tombs were recorded within the graveyard and vary in condition. Tomb (ref. no. 76) is in good repair with the earliest internment dated to 1869 when Mary Kennedy of Clounties died on 16th May aged 25. Twelve unnamed tombs were recorded in various states of preservation. Five tombs are in a partially collapsed condition. Six are partly or completely grassed over and are recognisable as rectangular mounds with the construct of the remaining two tombs in relatively good condition. Thirty-four inscribed headstones were recorded within the graveyard. Thirty-eight unnamed headstones were recorded within the graveyard. The unnamed graves are composed of 18th and 19th century headstones. Twenty-four unnamed gravemarkers were recorded. Unnamed headstones are grouped together with the unnamed gravemarkers on the plan of the graveyard. The unhewn sandstone grave-markers are identifiable as a rubble stone or roughly rectangular stone completely devoid of any inscription or decoration. They are generally low set and rise above the ground surface for an average 0.3m. Occasionally, a distinguishing feature of these stones is a semi-circular concave depression cut or spall notched into the top of the stone. Eight cross-inscribed slabs (KE042-103004-/011-) are recorded within the graveyard and are described in detail in The Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula (Cuppage et al 1986). Five of the eight slabs denote one end of a grave. The remaining three are situated in the vicinity of the ruined church' (Buckley and Dunne 2007, 2-6). See attached 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. 981. 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: 11 July 2022