6 B(iUij)}}arti)i Chia-(h Ruins 



and al.so to a portion of a vessel found in the Kath of Dreen, 

 Parish of Ahoghill, in our investigations this year-, to which I 

 will refer in a subsequent paper. The exact reseml»lance of 

 these three vessels to each other in shape, decoration, finish and 

 material seems sufficient to prove that tliey are ai (proximately 

 contemporaneous. The tinding of fragments of a pot of this 

 particular pattern within a church building of about the tenth 

 century confirms the conclusion arrived at with regai'd to the 

 date of the potteiy of this precise type, in my papers on pre- 

 historic dwelling i^laces in the Reports of this Society for 1916 

 and 1917. We found one piece of pottery, evidently the bottoni 

 of a vessel, showing signs of glaze of mediaeval type, but un- 

 fortunately I cannot be certain where exactly it was found. I 

 thought at first these kitchen midden remains were those left 

 by the original artizans who built the church, but Professor 

 Macalister informs me that many instances have been noted 

 in early churches wher'e the priest lived in the west end of 

 the church, and that this is an example of a priest's kitchen. 



Of the history of Ballymartin Church we have practically 

 no certain knowledge. The reference to " the church of the old 

 town " in the taxation roll of 1307, as Dr. Keeves thought, applies 

 to it ; no other mention of it appears in any available record 

 until about 1600, when it is referred to as " the church of Bally- 

 martin in ruin."* 



From various sources we know that for over a century after 

 the wars of John de Courcy. the Normans were firmly settled in 

 Co. Antrim, but especially in the fertile district, now known as 

 the valley of the Six mile Water, but anciently as the Tuath of 

 Magh Linn or Moylinne. Prior to the Norman invasion much 

 of this territory was the home of the clan O'Flynn. When the 

 Norman occupation was effected, it was parcelled out among the 

 followers of De Courcy. The Savages obtained the lands round 

 Donegoreand Rathmore, the towuland of Ballysavage perpetuating 



* See Reeves, Ecclesiastical Antiquities, p. 66. 



