Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Church ruins in the townland of Ballynabrennagh Upper (Baile na mBreatnach Uachtarach), parish of Ratass, diocese of Ardfert, barony of Trughanacmy. Depicted on the 1841 ed. OS 6-inch map as a small rectangular church standing on S quadrant of small circular-shaped earthwork (KE029-042002-) shown with a dotted outline. Church ruins described in 1841 as; 'In the townland of Baile na mBreathnach (Ballybranagh) in this parish are shown the foundations of an old church which was thirty one feet [9.5m] in length and fifteen feet [4.6m] in breadth. Its site is pointed out in the middle of a green field, but no name is preserved for it. It was probably a small chapel' (O'Donovan 1983, 62). According to the Ordnance Survey Name Books, the walls of which stood; 'about 3 ft. [0.9m] high placed in the centre of a circular spot about 2 chains in diameter encompassed by a fosse or old stone ditch. Infants are to said to be sometimes interred in it' (OSNB Parish of Ratass, 43). Hickson (1880, 362-3) recorded that 'Lismore House occupying part of its site; a little to the east of the house are the ruins of two or three tiny oratories or churches (KE029-043----), and a well called Tubbernataggart, i.e. "the priest's well"; but the grass-grown foundations, with a few scattered stones, are all that remain of the former, since an enterprising Scotch (Lowland) farmer carted away the rest of the sacred buildings a few years ago to build his fences, although there was a limestone quarry near at hand'.
The Minute Book of the Co. Kerry Field Club (02 March 1940, Vol. 1, 85-6) recorded the following; 'the party were able to distinguish the foundation of a small church which has been demolished. This was a stone built edifice orientated and appears to have been about the same type of building and about the same size as that at Killelton [KE037-025002-] in the Camp district. The church appears to have been built within the ring of a fort as the circle of the fort is easily discernible in the field though dug out. The party interviewed a man who assisted at the demolishing of the building and he informed them that human bones were unearthed in the digging. bones [were found] in two places in the field, particularly at a spot fifty yards to the north West of the site and also close by the site on the South side. In the walls of the out-offices and gate pillars in the vicinity the party were able to distinguish several stones from the church, particularly window stones which had been prepared and the bear the mark decoration peculiar tot he period. The cap or lintel stone of the window was also found it is not flat as at Killelton but an effort had been made to give it a curved or arched appearance'. Listed by Hurley (1979, 93) as 'Templeone' which is an earthwork (KE029-043----) located 240m to ENE.

See attached Google Earth orthoimages

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 15 June 2022

References

Hickson, M.A. 1880 Notes on Kerry Topography, Ancient and Modern, with Extracts from the Unpublished Desmond Survey and Inquisition (Continued). The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 349-64.

OSNB - Ordnance Survey Name Books. Pro-forma books arranged by Civil Parish for recording townland and other name-forms and compiled in the course of the OS 6-inch survey 1824-1841. The name books also include minor names and incidental references to antiquities. National Archives of Ireland.

O'Donovan, J. 1983 The antiquities of the county of Kerry. Cork. Royal Carbery Books.

Hurley, V. 1979 The distribution, origins and development of temple as a church name in the south-west of Ireland. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 84, 74-94.