Site of Ballintaggart Church — Baile An Tsagairt (tc Na Gleannta)

Ballintaggart church (KE053-033001-) (site of) and old burial ground (KE053-033002-) /An Cheallúnach or An Lisín: This circular enclosure crowns the summit of a low, but prominent, hillock between Dingle Harbour and Trabeg. The site of a church is shown within the enclosure on the OS maps, but nothing more is known about this, and no visible trace survives. Children were still being interred in the burial ground in the mid-19th century (OSNB Garfinny, 28). A low cairn of stones, including much quartz, lies c. 13m to E of the enclosure and 'other tombs with great unshapen stones half buried' lay a little to E of this again (OSL). The 'site of a building' mentioned elsewhere in the OSL probably refers to one or other of these latter features. Nine ogham stones have been collected from various locations in the vicinity of the site and are now arranged in a circle within the enclosure; no.9 lies apart in the approximate centre. Nos. 4 and 6 were first discovered in a field fence to S of the calluragh and nos. 5 and 9 also came from a field on this S side (Windele 1838, 80-81, 150-2, 159; 1848, 453-5). No.7 lay 'loose in a dyke near the ditch' (presumably that of the enclosure). Nos. 1 and 2 appear to have been located either at the cairn or the nearby 'tombs' (OSL) and the 3rd stone noted at this location was probably either no.3 or no. 8. All of the stones are oval water-rolled boulders similar to stones from the storm beach at Minard. Another rounded boulder within the enclosure apparently bore a small cross but no ogham inscription (Brash 1879, 205-6); this has not been located. One small round stone at the site has a small rectilinear depression in one surface; its function is not known but it has been suggested that it may have been a mould. The burial ground measures 30.7m N-S x 29.5m E-W internally and is enclosed by a low earthen bank, faced externally by a drystone-built wall. The bank rises a maximum of 1m above the interior, but is generally lower, and the wall is 1.45m high above the shallow fosse which encircles it. The fosse is c. 1m wide and no more than 0.3m deep below the external ground level. No entrance exists through the wall, and access to the interior is by means of 2 stiles at N and SW. On examination of earlier accounts of the site (OSL; OSNB; Romilly Allen 1892, 255-6), it seems certain that the site was originally enclosed by an earthen bank and fosse and that the wall was added sometime between the 1840's and the 1890's. The interior is raised above the external ground level and the central area is raised again above the edges giving the impression of a shallow internal fosse. Apart from the ogham stones, which were placed here in recent times, the interior is occupied by a confusion of low mounds and low upright grave markers. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 820. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 7 August 2013