Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Graveyard at Ballyprior More
Ballyprior More, Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Graveyard
- Date of construction
- Pre 1600
- Address
- Graveyard at Ballyprior More, Brown’s Bay Road, Islandmagee, Larne, Co Antrim
- Townland
- Ballyprior More
- Council
- Mid and East Antrim
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.83455, -5.74034
- Date of survey
- 08 November 1997
- HB reference
- HB06/04/018
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1690 "Scotland below the Tay." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
A graveyard in a raised enclosure part revetted with stone and entered by a gateway comprising rectangular piers of rubble basalt harled, the one to the west containing a small chamber used as a store with a cast iron door; flat-iron gate; cement rendered steps to western pier. The graveyard is recorded as containing memorials from the 17th and 18th centuries but mainly in evidence now are those of the 19th and 20th centuries, none of them of any special architectural interest. One unusual stone is carved with a hand in relief on its reverse; inscription and date not legible. The graveyard stands in a very secluded
setting surrounded by open countryside but bounded by shrubs and hedges, reached by a lane off the main road.
Historical information
Appears on OS map of 1832. Reputedly the site of the monastery of Ballyprior but no building now remains; described in the early 19th century as “a place of extreme antiquity”; the oldest inscription recorded at that time dated from 1687.
The graveyard is recorded as a monument, SMR no. ANT41:5.
References - Primary
1. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 10: Parishes of County Antrim III (Belfast, 1991), p 43.
2. OS Map 1832, Co Antrim 41.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
A graveyard of some antiquity and thus of some local historic interest but with insufficient architectural interest to be listed.
Nearby in the register
- Ballypriormore Primary SchoolSchoolunder 1 mi
- Second Presbyterian ChurchChurchunder 1 mi
- Lime kiln oppositeRural Industryunder 1 mi
- 65 Mullaghboy Road,Demolishedunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.