Barney church (in ruins) — Ballyconra

On a slight ridge in the valley floor with good views in all directions. The field surrounding the church has numerous earthworks (KK009-013005-) indicative of settlement, possibly associated with the church. Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 310-12) describes the various references to the church and parish of Aharney, with its various different spellings since the 13th century. He relates how, ‘the parish of Aghteyr was appropriated to the Priory of Inishtioge’ and remained their property until the Reformation (ibid. 311). In 1541 the rectory of ‘Agheteart’ was leased to Richard Butler of Ferns, in 1576-7 to James and Edward Cuffe and in 1584 to Henry Davelles (ibid. 311). Post-Reformation the church once again became a parish church (ibid. 311). Carrigan (ibid.) notes that, ‘In the Regal Visitation of 1615 it was found that the Rectory of Acghtier was worth £5, and that the parish church and chancel were in course of repair’. Also, Carrigan (ibid. 314) refers to a local belief that, 'Barony Church was re-roofed and was used again as the Catholic chapel of the district, during the Williamite and Jacobite war; and they say that the oak couples of the roof remained in position till late in the 18th century'. A nave (int. dims. 7.2m N-S; 17m E-W) and chancel (dims. 5.2m N-S; 8m E-W) church of roughly coursed limestone rubble, aligned E-W, with the side walls (T 0.9m) and gables surviving in good condition. There is a single bell bellcote at the apex of the W gable. There are two buttresses against the external E gable. The church was entered at the W end through either of the roughly opposing doorways in the N and S wall, both broken out. There is a flat-headed single-light window at the E end of the N within a round-headed embrasure and one, broken out, opposite in the S wall. There are corbels at the W end of the church which would have supported a gallery. The round-headed chancel arch (H 2.4m; Wth 2.6m) has been subsequently blocked up and a doorway inserted giving access to the chancel which was ‘roofed and fitted up, several years ago, to serve as a mortuary chapel for the Mountgarret family’ (ibid. 312). Carrigan (ibid.) notes that, ‘All its distinctive features were then destroyed except a very handsome piscina of gothic design, with ornamental bowl’. The piscina is within a chamfered pointed niche and has a fluted bowl. The chapel is lit by two single-light flat-headed windows within round-headed embrasures, each being at the E end of the N and S wall respectively, and by an elliptical-headed two-light window in the E gable. The voussoirs of the E window, visible externally, suggest that there may have been an earlier pointed window. Within the chapel there is a wall monument (KK009-013006-), dated 1634, in the NE angle and a graveslab (KK009-013007-), dated 1694, in the NW angle. The modern graveyard enclosing the church is a reduced version of an earlier graveyard (KK009-013002-) which is enclosed by a low earthen bank. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 16 July 2018