Ballynacorra Medieval Church and Parish
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
The
medieval parish church of Ballynacorra stands at the north end of a graveyard
at the west end of a cul-du-sac road out of Ballynacorra village, otherwise
known as Ballinacurra. The pre-Norman church at Ballynacorra was dedicated to
St. Colman of Cor as described in charters of the 1190s as ecclesium sancti Colmani de Cor. This dedication does not appear in
later documents.[1]
The Colman connection in the parish does survive in the townland of Bawnard
East where a holy well is dedicated to St. Colman.[2] In
the sixteenth century Ballynacorra parish absorbed its smaller neighbouring
parish of Chore (Midleton) and adopted the dedication of the latter, St. John
the Baptist, to apply to the whole.[3]
Ballynacorra church
Ballynacorra
church is a rectangular structure measuring 26.5m E-W and 9m N-S. The west
gable stands to full height but the other three walls stand at various heights.
The south-east corner wall has collapsed while a buttress outside the east end
of the north wall helps that corner from falling into the Owenacurra River. The
east gable has a central two-light window with ogee-headed lintel is missing
its central mullion. The east end of the north wall has a single ogee-headed window
with a blocked window to the west. This blocked window is possibly a sixteenth
or seventeenth century insertion. The south wall has a number of blocked and
half open windows with a blocked doorway that appear to be early modern
insertions that makes it difficult to know the window arrangements in medieval
times. The west gable has a single rectangular window with a lintelled
embrasure. The church is entered by a doorway near the west end of the south
wall.[4]
This doorway is about nineteen feet from the west gable. A possible blocked
doorway in the north wall also measures nineteen feet from the west gable.
The
church doesn’t appear to have had any chancel arch to separate the nave from
the choir area. Yet the eastern twenty-two feet of the church does appear to be
of a separate construction to the western portion of the church. It is
difficult to date the church as so much the moulding which was around the south
wall windows has been removed. It is suggested that the western portion of the
church is twelfth century with the eastern extension in the thirteenth century.
The surviving medieval windows at the east and west gables suggest fifteenth
century renovations.
In
1615 Ballynacorra church was described as in ruins. In about 1690 a new church
was built in Midleton town for the united parishes of Ballynacorra and Chore.
The old church at Ballynacorra may have been deconsecrated at that time or
sometime afterwards. The earliest headstone within the present-day ruined
church dates to 1812, some hundred years after the church had officially gone
out of use.[5]
Pre-Norman Ballynacorra
The
pre-Norman church of Ballynacorra was dedicated to St. Colman of Cloyne. This
saint lived in the second half of the sixth century and founded Cloyne, on a
green field site, as his principal monastic foundation, before his death in
around AD 600 after he was expelled from his former foundations near Cashel.[6]
St. Colman was patronised by the Sil Cathail, later renamed as the Eóganacht Glennamnach.[7]
The territory of Uí Mac Caille, in which are situated Ballynacorra and Cloyne,
was part of the larger kingdom of Uí Liatháin from the fifth to eleventh
century.[8]
The Uí Liatháin were often allies of the Eóganacht and were included in the
genealogy of the latter to show their common bond.[9] It
is suggested that the area of Cloyne and Ballybacorra was previously part of
another kingdom and that was conquered in the sixth century by the Uí Liatháin.
To prevent any re-conquest, the area around Cloyne and Ballynacorra was given
to St. Colman and the Church.[10]
Before
the Norman invasion of 1169 Ballynacorra appears to have been the mother church
of the large túath called Uflanetad
which stretched several miles to the north and east from Ballynacorra. The
basic area of Uflanetad encompassed the land between Ballynacorra and
Castlemartyr and included the parishes of Ballynacorra, Castlemartyr,
Caherultan and Inchinabacky (Churchtown North).[11] Before
the Norman invasion, the abbots of Cloyne, and later bishops of Cloyne, claimed
feudal overlordship over much of Uflanetad as well as the manors of Cloyne and
Inchiquin.[12]
A
túath of twelfth century was the
smallest political community in the Irish political system and was ruled by a taísech túaithe of the local
aristocratic cenél (family group).[13]
From the limited documentary sources that we have it appears that many túath had a túath church that was the great church, or mother church, of a
number of lesser churches in the túath
usually referred to as baile churches.[14]
Thus the church of St. Colman of Cor was the túath church with the churches at Castlemartyr and Mogeely as baile churches. Caherultan was described
in the 1180s as a lesser church to the great church on Spike Island. This could
have been a post Norman arrangement and in pre Norman times Caherultan was
subject to Cor church but it is on the exact history. Inchinabacky (Churchtown
North) is another church of uncertain history. It was later owned by St. Thomas
Abbey with the other Ballynacorra churches but was it a pre-Norman or
post-Norman foundation.
Ballynacorra of the weirs
The
earliest name for Ballynacorra is St. Colman of Cor ‘St. Colman of the weir’.
After the Normans built their castle the place began to be called Castlecor or Caislean na Coradh, the ‘castle of the
weirs’. By the late sixteenth century the name of Castlecor began to be
replaced by Ballynacorra. The name of Ballynacorra, referred to locally as
Ballinacurra, is said to mean the ‘town of the weirs’ or ‘homestead of the
weirs’.[15]
Ballynacorra stands beside the Owenacurra River (Abhainn na Coradh) which means the ‘river of the weir’ or ‘weir
river’. The Corabbey of Midleton is usually given in Latin as Chorus Sancti Benedicit (Choir of St.
Benedict) which is often said to be a play with words on that of Cor which
means the ‘abbey of the weir’.[16]
A
small number of historians offer a different opinion that Cor, Cora and Coradh
has nothing to do with a weir or group of weirs. Instead Cor, and its
alternatives, comes from the Irish word currach
which means a marsh. This comes near to that of Cork, which comes from the
Irish Coraigh, which also means marsh.[17]
The Owenacurra River is tidal above Ballynacorra as far as the present Catholic
Church in Midleton and both banks of the river are marked with marshland and
liable to flood.
The
area of the Owenacurra River adjoining Midleton town generated some marsh land
because of the tidal limit of the river developed an area on the both sides of
the river that wasn’t always water or always solid land. But Ballynacorra on
the tidal stretch of the Owenacurra River does not have much marshland. There
are mud flats between high and low tide but you couldn’t call them marshland.
The monastery of Cloyne was founded in the late sixth century but it grew
beyond the area around Cloyne in the seventh century and after. One of the
interesting features of a number of monasteries founded in the seventh century
is there common location near the tidal reach of a river or sea inlet.
The
monastery of Nendrum on an island in Strangeford Lough built a weir across a
V-shaped bay in 619-621 to capture the incoming tide in the enclosed pool and
release the water through a horizontal corn mill.[18]
In the 620s or early 630s St. Cronan founded a monastery at Clashmore near the
tidal limit of the River Gleanogle. Also in the 630s St. Carthach (Mo-chuda)
founded a monastery at Lismore at the tidal limit of the River Blackwater. At
the tidal limit of the River Barrow St. Moling founded a monastery in the same
period that is now known as St. Mullins.[19]
In the 1180s documents suggest a tidal mill on the Kiln River in Lower
Blackpool, within modern Cork city, opposite the Cork Opera House, in a grant
by Philip de Barry to St. Thomas Abbey, Dublin.[20]
The
location of Ballynacorra church on the edge of the Owenacurra River was no
accident. Here the tidal waters are nearly more important than religion. The
water beside the church of St. Colman of Cor became the harbour for Cloyne
monastery. The church also provided a good location to observe the tide and
thus be ready to work a weir to capture the tide and get the ebb tide to work a
tidal mill. A fishing weir does not require such close observation but a tidal
weir works to the tidal clock and man must be ready for the three hours of
milling given by nature. The location would not just make a tidal mill weir on
the Owenacurra possible but another weir could have been built at the mouth of
the creek into Ballynacorra village in the same dock area that provided the
water for the 19th and 20th century harbour of
Ballinacurra. This would make two weirs in keeping with the Ballynacorra name
which implies more than one weir. Only archaeological work could confirm the
evidence for any tidal weir mill but the location suggests such to be possible.
Of course it is also possible that that the weirs were just fishing weirs. In
the 1540s Corabbey had both a salmon weir and a water mill.[21]
Whatever type of weir was near Ballynacorra, and on the Owenacurra River, the
weirs were long in existence and were considered of importance to the locality
as to give their name to a place and a river along with a later Cistercian
abbey.
In
about 1750 the first in a series of large malt houses and corn stores were
built in Ballynacorra village to take advantage of the good tillage land that
surrounds Ballynacorra for many miles. Quays were built on the Ballynacorra
estuary between the village and the church. More malt and corn stores were
built on the back of improved sea and land communication which encouraged more
development. Ballynacorra Harbour remained active until the late 1960s when
road transport took over while the malting facilities remained open until
recent times. It would appear therefore that the area around Ballynacorra has a
long history of arable farming and corn production and processing.
Norman overlords of Imokilly
In
1177 King Henry II divided the kingdom of Cork, otherwise known as Desmond,
between Robert Fitz Stephen and Miles de Cogan but without setting out the
division boundary. In 1178 the two knights divided the seven cantreds of Cork
that they had by then subdued. De Cogan received the land along the coast from
Cork Harbour to Rosscarbery. Fitz Stephen got the three eastern cantreds of
Fermoy, Olethan and Omakille. Between 1177 and 1182 Fitz Stephen granted the
churches of Corkbeg and Ballynegornery (Ballintemple) along with the ‘chapel of
his castle’, which is presumed to be the rectory of Aghada, to St. Nicholas
Abbey in Exeter.[22]
Robert Fitz Stephen granted Omakille, which included Ballynacorra, to his
nephew, Alexander Fitz Maurice, son of Maurice Fitzgerald.[23]
Fitz Stephen had no children and on his death in 1183 left the lordship of his
half of Cork to his nephew, Raymond le Gros. In turn Raymond le Gros had no
legitimate children and so granted Cork to his bastard son Richard de Carew
before Raymond’s death in circa 1185. Richard de Carew died in 1199 leaving a
four year old son, Robert de Carew. In his lifetime Richard de Carew had moved
the caput of his lordship to
Castlecor, otherwise known as Ballynacorra.[24]
In about 1326 the last Carew overlord of Cork, Thomas de Carew, granted his
lands in west Cork to Maurice Fitz Thomas, 1st Earl of Desmond. About
the same time Thomas de Carew granted Castlecorth (Ballynacorra) to the Barry
family.[25]
Thomas de Carew was made a felon for involvement in the Desmond rebellion and
other deeds. In 1372 the manor of Castle Cor, with its appurtenances at Mogeely
and Martyr, were ordered to be restored to the Bishop of Cloyne, the overlord
owner of the manor.[26]
Norman lords of Ballynacorra
The
earliest Norman lord of Ballynacorra appears to be Robert de Altaribus (latter
written as Waters). He possibly acquired the land west of Ballynacorra church
to build a motte and bailey castle. It is unknown if Robert de Altaribus
acquired the castle site from the church or if a secular ringfort castle was
there. The Church of Cloyne had great power across Uí Meic Caille in the tenth
and eleventh century and could have acted as the secular power.[27] Many
of the royal castles in Ireland were built on church land acquired by purchase,
or on long term lease, by the government. As pre-Norman churches were usually
located at a distance from the centre of secular administration it is more
likely that Robert’s castle was built on former church land.[28]
The bishop of Cloyne was the overlord of Robert and the later families of Carew
and Barry at Castlecor.[29] The
Norman castle construction changed the name of Ballynacorra from something like
the Church of St. Colman of Cor to the Castle of Cor. Robert de Altaribus held
the tuath of Uflanetad and the sitting of his castle at Ballynacorra with its
status as the mother church of the tuath would suggest that Ballynacorra was
the centre of the tuath in pre-Norman times. In the wars between the advancing
Normans and Domnall McCarthy, King of Desmond, the latter successfully attacked
the castle of Cora along with many other castles in Uí Meic Caille.[30]
Between
1177 and 1189 Robert and his son Thomas de Altaribus granted Ballynacorra
church to the abbey of St. Thomas in Dublin by way of several charters. St.
Thomas Abbey was founded in 1177 by William Fitz Audelin and received great
number of endowments from many of the Norman invaders.[31]
At that time Ballynacorra was described as the ‘great church of the castle of
Cor’. The motte and bailey castle of Cor lies just west of Ballynacorra church
in the grounds of Ballynacorra House. In Irish this place was known as Caislean na Cora (castle of the weirs)
until replaced in the seventeenth century by Ballynacorra (town of the weirs).[32]
The
grant by Robert de Altaribus included the church of Martyr, the church of St.
Colman of the castle of Cor and the ecclesiastical benefice of Letrussin for
the soul of his parents and Mable his wife.[33]
Letrussin was near the Kiltha River in the north end of Mogeely parish.[34]
This charter was witnessed by many people including Ralph de Altaribus and
Reginald de Altaribus, brothers of Robert.[35]
Sometime
afterwards Matthew Ua Mongaig, Bishop of Cloyne (died 1192), confirmed the
grant of Robert de Altaribus and his son Thomas de Altaribus to the abbey of St
Mary and St Thomas the Martyr in Dublin of their churches, tithes and benefices
in the territory of Imaccelli (Imokilly) in the sceilicet of Uflanetad viz: the
great church of Castle Cor (maxime ecclesiam de Castello de Cor) with its
particulars; the church of Martre and the church of Caaderultan with its
particulars. This charter was witnessed by Master sacerdote (Sir) Oein, Sir
Muregan, Sir Odunachi, Uligedhe, Robert Fitz Stephen, Alexander Fitz Maurice,
Raymond Beth, Raymond Maggunele, Galfrido de Argentoein, Edward Nigro and Thomas
Multan with many others.[36]
Before
1182 Raymond Mangonel (Magnel, later written as Magner) had granted the matrix ecclesia, great, or mother,
church of Ynispic (Spike Island) along with the church of Caherultan to St.
Thomas Abbey in Dublin.[37]
Robert de Altaribus later acquired Caherultan and gave its church to St. Thomas
Abbey.[38]
The grant by Robert de Altaribus was not an original grant but rather an
acknowledgement grant to St. Thomas based on the abbey already holding
Caherultan from the previous grant of Raymond Mangonel. By this viewpoint the
church at Caherultan was a daughter church of Spike Island and not of
Ballynacorra as the Robert de Altaribus grant would suggest.
At
some time in the 1180s Richard de Carew purchased half of Uflanetad from Robert
de Altaribus.[39]
Before 1185-90 the heirs of Thomas de Altaribus sold the other half of Uflanetad
to Richard de Carew but the family still retained some property in the area
long afterwards. On Great Island a medieval extent named a place called
Wateliston from Autreston and now better known as Ballinwaterig.[40] Before
his death in 1199 Richard de Carew confirmed the previous grant to St. Thomas
Abbey, Dublin, of the church of St Colman de Cor (ecclesian sancti Colmani de Cor) with all its particulars along
with the church of Martyr (Castlemartyr) with its particulars; the church of
Cadorultun (Cahirultan in Castlemartyr Demesne, joined to Castlemartyr in 17th
century) with its particulars and the church of Thulaghbrathen with its
particulars. This was witnessed by John de Cogan, David de Barry, Philip de
Barry, Richard de Barry, Maurice Fitz Maurice and Robert of Castrocor
(Castlecor) with many others. Robert de Altaribus conceded and confirmed the
grant as pertaining to his part of Uflanetad. In the same deed Thomas de
Altaribus conceded and confirmed the grant for his part of Uflanetad.[41] In
circa 1207 to circa 1216 Lucas, Bishop of Cloyne, confirmed to St. Thomas abbey
various parishes in County Cork including Ballynacorra.[42]
Chore Abbey (Midleton)
Contemporary
with the first granting of Ballynacorra parish to St. Thomas Abbey was the
foundation of the Cistercian abbey of Corabbey, in the Irish known as Mainistir na Corann, in Latin Chorus Sancti Benedicit (Choir of St.
Benedict) or in English as Chore or Corabbey. In the late sixteenth century it
was known as Monasternecorragh or Monastercurragh and by the late seventeenth
century was known as Midleton as it is today.[43]
The abbey was founded in 1179 or 1180 by an unknown patron as no foundation
charter survives. It is suggested that a Barry or a Fitzgerald was patron based
mainly on the abbey possessing vicarages in territory controlled in the
fifteenth and sixteenth century by these two families.[44]
Another suggestion is the last Uí Meic Tire king of Uí Meic Caille was the
founder as the abbey sided with the Irish wing of the Cistercian chapter in
Ireland against Cistercian abbeys that were founded by Anglo-Normans.[45] In
1180, Donal Mór O’Brien, King of Thomond, approved the colonisation and
foundation of Holy Cross abbey in Co. Tipperary, with monks coming from
Monasteranenagh in Co. Limerick. Corabbey was founded using monks from
Monasteranenagh and thus was a daughter house of the latter. Monasteranenagh
was founded in 1148 by Turlough O’Brien and was a centre of resistance to the
Norman Conquest.[46]
As
Corabbey is not mentioned in any of the charters granting Ballynacorra and its
daughter parishes to St. Thomas Abbey, or in any subsequent documentation
conflicting with Ballynacorra, it seems likely that the parish of Corabbey was
a recognised separate parish in circa 1180. The king of Uí Meic Caille possibly
founded the abbey, with O’Brien help, in recognition that he was losing his
lands to the Normans but could maintain an island of Irish culture with the
Cistercian house.
Ballynacorra Rectors and Vicars
Ballynacorra
rectory remained the property of St. Thomas Abbey until the suppression of the
monasteries in 1540-41 and thus the parish rector was the abbot of St. Thomas. But
before St. Thomas acquired full title to St. Colman of Ballynacorra,
Castlemartyr and Caherultan, John the Cleric was allowed to retain the
rectories of these parishes for life as he was rector when Richard de Carew
gave his confirmation charter (1185-1190) of these parishes to St. Thomas. John
the Cleric was obligated to pay St. Thomas Abbey eight shillings per year; half
at Easter and half at Michaelmas (29th September).[47] In
circa 1207 to circa 1216 Lucas, Bishop of Cloyne, confirmed to St. Thomas abbey
various parishes including Ballynacorra.[48]
This charter may have been written after the death of John the Cleric to
confirm full control to St. Thomas Abbey.
A
vicar performed church services and the sacraments at Ballynacorra but no names
of these office holders have survived. In the medieval church the rector funded
the chancel/choir area of the church while the parishioners funded the nave.
With no resident rector this possibly accounts for the church having no visible
choir area. The fabric of the building required repairs from time to time. Inside
the church daily and weekly requirements were needed such as candles and clean
cloths. The parish also paid money to the local bishop and archdeacon on their
visits to each parish in what was called procurations. Parishioners gave money
to fund these current and capital expenses on an ongoing basis as well as
donations in their wills. The parishioners also paid tithes which were shared
in a varied division between the rector and the vicar.
In
1302-1306 the parish of Castro Chori (Ballynacorra) was worth three marks with
four shillings in tithe tax. Around Ballynacorra the parish of Inchenebaky
(Churchtown North) was worth two marks, Castlemartyr five marks and Mogeely
seven marks while Mogeesha rectory was thirty-two shillings.[49] In
about 1302 the abbey of Choro Benedicti (Midleton) was worth twenty marks and
in about 1306 had declined to ten marks.[50]
Sometime
before March 1483 Thomas Purcell, a priest in the diocese of Cloyne, petitioned
the pope that the three religious houses of St. Thomas the Martyr, All Saints
and the abbess of Grayn were deprived of their yearly profits from several
parishes they held in the dioceses of Cloyne and Limerick due to distance and
negligence. The Cloyne parishes belonging to St. Thomas included Ballynacorra,
Martir (Ballyoughtera alias Castlemartyr), Garryboy (Garryvoe) and Inchinabacky
(Churchtown North) along with the chapel of Beallekyfy. Thomas Purcell had made
a lease with the three religious houses to have the fruits of their rectories
for sixty years under a yearly pension to St. Thomas of four marks, All Saints
one mark and Grayn a mark and a half. In March 1483 the pope mandated the
priory of Kells in Ossory and the official of Ossory to judge the case and if
they find the leases to be of profit to the three houses, to approve of same.
After sixty years, or the death of Thomas Purcell, the three houses would have
full title to their respective parishes again.[51]
In
1492 Tadhg and William O’Keeffe promised to increase the wax due to St. Thomas,
All Saints and Cahir priory by 12pounds weight, augment divine worships in
several rectories, recover alienations, repair destroyed manors and churches.
In the diocese of Cloyne the St. Thomas rectories were Castlemartyr, Churchtown
North and Garryvoe.[52] In
the year August 1491 to August 1492 Philip Barry had petitioned Rome, via a now
lost letter, asking for the union of an unnamed rectory and vicarage with the
precentorship of Cloyne with his existing canonry of Cloyne.[53] In
1492 Philip Barry, a cleric of Cloyne Diocese, paid the first fruits for the
churches of Kilquane (Cork Diocese), with Lisgoold, Castrocar (Ballynacorra),
and Aghada in Cloyne Diocese along with a canonry at Cloyne cathedral and the
prebend of Subulter in Cloyne Diocese with the precentorship of Cloyne.[54]
On
14th February 1541 Walter Cowley and James White, commissioners for
the dissolution of the monasteries in County Cork, held an inquisition at Cork
into the property of St. Thomas Abbey of Dublin. They found the abbey held the
rectories of Ballynymartyrrye (Castlemartyr), Inchynybakye (Inchinabacky, alias
Churchtown North, Garryvoie (Garryvoe) and Ballymcorrye (Ballynacorra). The
rectories were held to farm (leased) to William Walshe for 73s Sterling which
equalled 110s in Irish money.[55]
In
January 1571 Queen Elizabeth granted the rectorial tithes of the parishes of
Ballimarter (Ballymartle, alias Castlemartyr), Esterbake (Inchinabacky),
Corriboe (Garryvoe), Balliannan (Mogeesha) and Castrocerre (Ballynacorra) to
John Fitz Edmond Fitzgerald and Thomas Coppinger for 21 years at £5 10s rent
per annum. These rectories had come to the crown by the dissolved monastery of
Thomascourt in Dublin, otherwise known as St. Thomas Abbey. In the four years
to Michaelmas 1582 (September 1582) no rent was paid and thus on 14th
April 1583 the patent was declared void.[56] In
1607 Sir John Fitz Edmond Fitzgerald of Cloyne held Corabbey (Midleton) and
Castleredmond.[57]
This places the Fitzgerald family as owning Midleton and Ballynacorra parishes
along with Inchinavacky (Churchtown North) parish in what are now (2023) all
part of Midleton. Thus it is difficult to know where one parish ends and
another starts as well as decide which parish is the subject of a document when
Castrachora, Chore and Ballynacorra all have similar names.
In
1615 the church and chancel of Castrachore was in ruins but it is unclear if
this refers to Ballynacorra or Midleton.[58] In
1623 Thomas Davis held the vicarages of Ballynacorra and Mogeely. But his
possession was disputed between 1623 and 1626 by Sir John Fitzgerald of Cloyne
as heir of his grandfather Sir John Fitz Edmond Fitzgerald. Sir John claimed
his grandfather had received the vicarages forever and that his mother
appointed curates. In 1637 Thomas Ledsham was appointed vicar of Mogeely and of
Castrachore until 1661 when Mr. Wandrick was vicar followed by Daniel Cosidine
as vicar until 1691. Benjamin Lukey was then vicar of Castrachore alias Midleton
from 1691 to 1698 when Walter Atkins was vicar. In 1710 Atkins became treasurer
of Cloyne and from 1710 to 1833 the vicarage was held with the treasurership of
Coyne.[59]
From the above it appears that Ballynacorra vicarage survived until the 1620s
when the similar named parish of Chore (Choir), around Midleton town, took over
the name of Ballynacorra and turned it into Castrachore, the castle of the
choir. In 1634 the rectory of Castrachore was worth £40 and £13 for the
vicarage. In 1694 Castrachore rectory and vicarage was worth £50.[60]
Both of these entries appear to refer to the united parish of Chore (Midleton)
and Ballynacorra. In 1774 there were five acres and thirty-seven perches of
glebe land in Ballinacurragh (Ballynacorra) which was separate from the
fourteen acres in Midleton.[61]
This glebe land was at the southern end of Ballynacorra East townland along the
boundary with Ballynacorra West.
So
isolated and forgotten had Ballynacorra church become that a watch house was
built at the entrance to graveyard to stop body snatchers from stealing the
bones of the dead. A lime kiln was built a short distance east of the church in
the 18th century to cover the area in smoke and noise without little
objection as no silence was required anymore for religious prayer.
Parish
As
Ballynacorra parish was united with that of Chore Midleton possibly in the
sixteenth century it is difficult to know exactly the extent of Ballynacorra
parish. In 1591 it was said that the church of Castro Chori was attached to the
prior and abbey of Chore. The taxation roll of 1659-1660 only mentions Banearde
and Knockane Ireaghy as part of Ballynacorra parish.[62] The
mid seventeenth century Down Survey gave the Fitzgerald lands of Ballynacorra
as consisting on the three townlands of Ballynacorra along with Loughatalia and
both Bawnard townlands.[63]
Other
townlands said to be in Ballynacorra parish include Coppingerstown, Gearagh,
Dunsfort and Ballinvatlery (Butlerstown & Carrigeennamoe).[64] Carrigshane,
otherwise known as Sythan, was also part of Ballynacorra parish.[65]
Innygraga was also included in Ballynacorra parish.[66] The
large townland of Castleredmond appears to have been divided between
Ballinacorra parish and Chore parish with the greater part belonging to the
latter.[67]
A
number of townlands that lie at the southern end of the modern parish of
Midleton and which were likely to be part of the medieval parish of
Ballynacorra include Carrigagour and Knockasturckeen.
Conclusion
This
article gives just a brief outline of the history of Ballynacorra church and
its túath church and parish. Much of
its history has not survived in documents and no person is alive from medieval
times to provide an oral history. The site of the church beside the Owenacurra
River has seen more ebb and flows of the tidal than any Christian church on the
site has ever seen or will ever see. St. Colman, or his successors, built a
church beside the weirs of the Owenacurra in the túath of Uflanetad. The water beside the church of St. Colman of
Cor became the harbour for the monastery of Cloyne. At that point, or later,
the church of St. Colman of Cor became the túath
church with dependent churches at Castlemartyr and Mogeely.
When
the Normans arrived, the location beside the tidal Owenacurra River provided a
good place for a castle and gave its name of Castlecor to the church and parish.
The Altaribus family gave Castlecor church to St. Thomas Abbey of Dublin along
with its dependent churches but the large parish church at Castlecor meant the
area retained some importance. By the sixteenth century the castle was in ruins
and the area became Ballynacorra as the medieval town was now the local place
of importance. The Fitzgerald family supplanted the bishop of Cloyne, and with
St. Thomas Abbey suppressed along with the Cistercian abbey of Corabbey, the
two parishes of Ballynacorra and Corabbey increasingly were joined together.
When the Broderick family developed Midleton town within the former Corabbey
parish that place became the centre of Christian worship and the old church of
St. Colman of Cor was left fall into ruins.
Today
Ballynacorra church is more often visited by those attending to its surrounding
graves. Or by people passing through the graveyard to take a walk along the
footpath beside the Owenacurra River that goes around the boundary wall of
Ballynacorra House. Even the few antiquarians and academics who visit the
church know little of this church that once was the mother church of a túath that stretched from there east to
Castlemartyr and Mogeely and beyond. It is hoped that this article will provide
some historical account of Ballynacorra church beside the Owenacurra River that
is well worth a visit or two.
===
================
End
of post
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