The Story of Ballingaddy graveyard, Co. Limerick

This church and graveyard are in the townland of Ballingaddy North, in the parish of Kilmallock/Ballingaddy and in the barony of Coshlea. The site is located immediately south of Ballingaddy Catholic Church, about 1.5 km south-east of Kilmallock town, on the L1535, off R512 road to Ardpatrick. The river Loobagh flows north-east of the graveyard.

 

The ruins of the church are in the north west section of the graveyard. The church dates probably to the late 13th century and was dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary. 

The graveyard is roughly rectangular in shape measuring 50m N-S x 70m E-W. It is enclosed by a post 1700 stone wall, with the entrance gate in the northern end of the east wall (Archaeology.ie).

 

A total of 222 memorials were recorded, dating from the 18th century to the present day. The earliest memorial commemorates the burial place of Mary Ormond who died in 1752 (memorial no. 0140).

 

Surnames recorded include Mornell, Murphy, Foley, Fitzgerald, Godfrey, Woods, Radleigh, Lewis, Spelman, Goosens, Cussen, Tracey, Leo, Culnane, Hennessey, O’Grady, Bennett, Donegan, Stafford, O’Connor and Dwane.

Not all inscriptions are up online. 192 of the memorials of the 222 are up online. The last 30 record sheets are not in the folder. 

 

Interesting Facts

Folklore has it that the name Ballingaddy got its name from one of its inhabitants, a thief called Black-Dwane who was in the habit of attacking and robbing coaches as they travelled the local roadways. The area became known as Baile An Ghadidhe (Town of the Thief), then anglicised to Balligaddy, (Duchas ie.).

 

One of the interesting features of the graveyard is the mausoleum  which adjoins the church ruins. Constructed of limestone and square in plan, it has a gable front featuring a coat of arms above an iron door. It commemorates the Walsh family of Kilmallock. It was probably built between 1845-50, (Archaeology.ie.).

 

The ruins of the church are described in O’Donovan’s Ordnance survey Letters as there being a nave and a chancel.

 

Reverend Paul Slattery, one of the Dominicans of Kilmallock Priory who served in Effin 1759-1763 died in 1787 and was buried in Ballingaddy graveyard. According to Canon Begley (1938) his grave is located close to the eastern gable of the church and marked by a small headstone. This headstone could not be located during the survey, (Historic graves.ie).

 

John Flanagan, a native of Kilbreedy East, Ballingaddy, won three Olympic gold medals in hammer throwing, in Paris 1900, in St. Louis in 1904 and in London in 1908. He died in 1938, aged 70 years and is buried in the Flanagan Family plot, against the west boundary wall. 

 

In Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837, the church in the graveyard is described as being in ruin, while the later church next door is described as a chapel which is a  ‘small thatched building’.

 

18th Century Burials in Ballingaddy Graveyard

0110 Ellen O'Donnell 1772

0126 Thomas Clogan 1754

0140 Mary Ormond 1752

0150 Denish Hase 1767

0171 James Fitzgibbon 1796

0175 James Power 1753

0176 Margaret Nealon 1759

0182 Patrick Stanton 1776