Ballybacon Church (in ruins) — Raheen (ballybacon Par.)

On a gentle NE-facing slope in gently undulating pasture. A simple undivided church aligned E-W, of 13th-century date, is built of roughly coursed limestone and sandstone rubble, with a base-batter (H 1.14m; Wth 0.4m). The whole building is densely obscured by ivy. The S wall is completely gone, but the E (H c. 8m; T 1.1m) and W gables are largely intact, as is the N wall (H 4m; T 0.82m). A buttress (H 1.65m; Wth 1.4m; D 2.5m) supports the E end of the N wall externally, where there is also a broken out window. A long central lancet window in the E gable is within a wide splayed embrasure. There are the remains of a broken-through doorway (H 2.35m; Wth 1.8m) at the W end of the N wall, the arch of which is intact. The W wall has an offset at a height of 3.4m above internal ground level and the gable rises above this. There are no other features visible, but according to the OS Letters there was a 'square window on the west gable placed at the height of about twenty feet [6m] from the ground and about four feet [1.2m] in height and a half feet [0.75m] in width' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 20 (52-3)). There is a gap (Wth 2.6m) in the W end of the N wall. A cross-slab (TS088-018003-) in the graveyard suggests there was an earlier church at this location. The earliest visible headstone dates from 1727, but most date from the 18th and 19th centuries, with some from the 20th century. A 13th-century medieval font described by Cahill and Twohig (1976, 91-3) was found at the church and has been removed to the nearby RC church (TS088-072----). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 28 November 2013