Power — Place-Nct/mes and Antiquities o/S.E, Cork. 25 



ancienl church and three or four lioses. It looks indeed as if the region 



were but sparsely populated, m- in great part uninhabited, in ancient times. 

 The parish name is not ecclesiastical in origin, but is derived from the townland 



on which stood the ancient church. Though non-ecclesiastical in derivation, 

 however, the name is of very respectable antiquity as designative of the 

 church; we find it under the form " Balyspellan " in the Taxation of 1291, 

 and under the form " Ballispillan " in the Visitation of 1615. We are 

 informed, moreover, by the Visitation that the Bectory belonged to the 

 abbeys of Buttevant and Tracton. 



TOWNLANDS. 



Ballyspillane, Baile Ui Spealain — " O'Spillane's Homestead." Area, 

 in two parts, 710 A. 



" Ballyspellane " (Inq. Cas. I). " Ballyspullane " (Deps. 1652). 



Towards south boundary of the parish, and on this townland, stand the 

 scant remains of the ancient church. These consist of a fragment, 6' high 

 x 6' or 8' wide, of the west gable, and the bare foundation course of the north 

 side wall of the nave, together with a small portion of the south-west angle 

 of the chancel. The total external dimensions of the church would be about 

 17 yards by 6. The surrounding cemetery, only about one-half of which 

 has been utilized for burials, 1 does not contain much of interest. To south 

 of the church ruin is a small standing-stone inscribed : — " I.H.S. Here he 

 the Body of The Eev. Dominick Rohan, Who Died November 18th, 1780, 

 Aged 58 years." Immediately to north of this tombstone is another 

 monument, so buried in the earth that I was unable to read its legend, 

 commemorating a second priest, probably one of Father Bohan's predecessors. 

 On the townland are two lioses — one, of small size and bisected by a road, 

 the other a larger specimen, represented by only an arc of its former circular 

 rampart. On Bat Greany's farm is one field in which I was told there was 

 once an establishment of monks. AVindele saw (May 5th, 1844) five folac/its 

 Jicddk in contiguous groups at Ballyspillane. 



1 Explorers of old cemeteries will have noticed how frequently the northern part, or 

 side, of the sacred enclosure remains unoccupied. Tradition and Church symbolism 

 supply the explanation. The side of the graveyard to north of the church building was 

 the side of the Gentiles and reserved for interment of infidels, &c. Long after its 

 symbolism had been forgotten, the people continued the practice of interment on the 

 south (or Epistle) side only, and in old Irish graveyards still — for no reason beyond 

 reverence for ancient custom— burial on the north side of the churchyard is a thing t<> be, 

 if possible, avoided. 



K.I. A. PltOC, VOL. XXXIV, SECT. 0. [4] 



