Graveyard

The National Monuments Service's description

Immediately E of the main road through Bansha. The Ara River flows due SE to the N. The church, being in the parish of Templeneiry, is referred to in the Civil Survey (1654-6) 'The sd. Gleabland is lying and beinge in the Towne of Tampleneyry neare the Church thereof, and is fenced about with a ditch' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 366). The graveyard is a large sub-rectangular raised area (dims. c. 50m NE-SW; c. 77m NW-SE) with a significant mound at its centre upon which an 18th/19th-century church is situated. An examination of the gravestones revealed a re-used fragment of an Early Christian slab (TS067-064002-) on the N side of the graveyard and another slab (TS067-064003-) of similar date on the S side of the graveyad. The coincidence of the impressive mound, the Early Christian graveslabs, the 17th-century reference to the glebeland being fenced about with a ditch and the river functioning as an enclosing element to the N, strongly suggests that this is likely to have been an Early Christian foundation. The present graveyard area may represent the inner sanctum of the early church, and the glebeland on its N side bounded by the river may be the area of the outer enclosure. When O'Donovan visited the site in the 1840s, he recorded a 17th-century Butler graveslab (TS067-064004-) located at the E end of the church (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 12).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 26 August 2011

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840. Bray.

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1934 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. II: county of Tipperary - Western and Northern baronies. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.