Ventry Church (in ruins) — Fionntrá

Ventry [Fionntrá/ White Strand] Church/Teampall Fionntrá or Teampall Chaitlíona: The parish church of Ventry is included in the Papal Taxation list (1302-1307) for the diocese of Ardfert (Cal Docs Ire, V, 297). In 1398 the church was the subject of a dispute with 'Patrick Treawnt', a priest of the diocese, unlawfully detaining it (Cal Pap Reg, 5, 106). It appears to have continued in use however throughout the medieval period and in 1633 it was under the patronage of Maurice Trant (TCD Ms 2158, 36). The church was in ruins by 1756 (Smith, 71). The remains of a rectangular building, c. 19.2m x 7m with walls 1.22m thick, were visible near the E end of the graveyard in 1841. The N wall preserved the remains of a narrow pointed light and a doorway with a 'semi-circular' head adjacent to it; an opposing doorway in the S wall had fallen (OSL). There are no visible remains of any structure here today. An octagonal stone font, 0.57m in diameter x 0.45m in height, and an octagonal pedestal, 0.3m in height, discovered in the graveyard c. 1917 are now in use in the modern parish church (O'Sullivan 1931, 545). The site lies c. 50m from the seashore on the W side of Ventry Harbour. In 2010 a graveyard survey carried out by Laurence Dunne recorded the following details: 'Ventry Graveyard is situated on the western shore of Ventry Harbour on the SW tip of the Dingle Peninsula in West Kerry. Its exposed situation on the shore has caused much erosion and movement of sand at the site over the years. In 1841 when John O’Donovan inspected the site he was unable to measure the height of the remains of the doorway on the north wall of the ruined church due to the build-up of sand (O’Donovan 1983, 91). No coherent remains of the church are visible above ground today. However, a raised platform area of the graveyard at the eastern limits possibly reflects the basal remains of the medieval church. The ruined rectangular medieval parish church of Ventry is denoted on the Fair Plan of 1841. The church was examined by John O’Donovan in 1841and described as; 'The old church of Ventry is situated on the strand of Ventry (Fionntráigh) towards the western extremity. It is not an old edifice though now in a state of great dilapidation, there being but forty-nine feet [15m] of the north wall and twenty-five feet [7.6m] of the south one, and a portion of the west gable extant. The distance from the west gable to the east extremity of the north wall is sixty-two feet four inches [19m] and this is not far short of the original length of the building. The breadth is twenty-three feet [7m]. At the distance of twenty eight feet ten inches [8.8m] from the west gable there is a semi-circular headed doorway on the north wall, which is three feet four inches [1m] in width buts its original could not be easily ascertained as it is nearly filled up with sand. At the distance of eight feet ten inches [2.7m] from the doorway to the east there is on the same wall a pointed window formed of cut brown sandstone, and measuring on the outside five feet six inches [1.7m] and seven inches [0.17m] in width. There was a doorway on the south wall placed nearly opposite the doorway just described, but it is now destroyed. The side walls of this church are four feet [1.2m] thick and about ten feet [3m] high and built of small rude stones (ibid)'. In essence the ruined remains of the church in 1841 measured c.19m E-W x 7m N-S and their 1.2m thick walls survived to a height of 3m. In the course of this survey of Ventry Graveyard seventeen architectural fragments of the medieval church were recorded of which fifteen were reused as headstones and three were inscribed with crosses. Fourteen punched and dressed architectural fragments of sandstone were recorded in the course of this survey that originally came from the medieval parish Church of Ventry. Three other fragments (164, 480 and 283) were later incised with crosses. All, bar two (284 and 399), appear to have been re-used as burial markers. Three of them are water spouts, while four others are weather coping flags. Many weather coping flags and water spouts were recorded at the nearby church of Dunurlin, near Ballyferriter. Two dressed and chamfered stones possibly from a fragment of a jamb (284) and the other possibly a springer-stone (321). Another fragment (307) is a door hinge-stone' (Dunne 2010, 2-14). The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 997. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. See attached photographs courtesy of Laurence Dunne Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 14 June 2022