2000:0024 - KILLEAVY OLD CHURCH, Ballintemple, Armagh

Monitoring took place of a pipeline running to the north and west of the site known as Killeavy Old Church. It is situated on the east-facing lower slopes of Slieve Gullion and was an Early Christian and medieval ecclesiastic site of great importance.

A Water Service pipeline under construction, located near to the early church site, had recently uncovered a souterrain. As a result, work stopped while the Environment and Heritage Service advised that an alternative route be found. The original route of the pipeline was roughly north-west/south-east along the Ballintemple Road. This was halted on discovery of the souterrain on a stretch of road roughly opposite the Killeavy graveyard gate. The new route involved the pipeline dog-legging west around the graveyard area.

The name Killeavy is derived from Cell Sleibhe Cuilinn, ‘the church of Slieve Gullion’, which was an important early monastic site for nuns, founded by Darerca, who was also known as Monnena or Bline. The church was plundered by the Vikings of Strangford in 923. Killeavy continued as a nunnery into the 16th century and was apparently an Augustinian convent by then. The church had probably not been used in a conventional sense since the Reformation. However, it remained a focus of religion and burial locally.

The site comprised two churches aligned in a row north–south. The architecture was complex but certainly included medieval and possibly even Early Christian elements. The site is in state care and was not affected by the works.

There was no trace of the round tower. According to local sources, it blew down in the later 18th century. The proximity of the tower to the churches on a 17th-century map confirmed that the church ruins had been the epicentre of the monastic site since at least the 12th century.

Another structure in the complex was the souterrain (SMR 29:15) recorded on the OS first and second edition maps in the field across the road from the graveyard. This souterrain crossed the road to the east or north-east of the graveyard and was obviously the same one uncovered during the Water Services pipe-laying operations.

There appeared to be no early enclosing elements at the church ruins, but there was a rath in the field north-east of the graveyard, according to early OS 6-inch maps. The real church enclosure was probably centred on the church ruins and enclosed a considerably larger area.

Ringfort-type enclosures are known to have been ecclesiastical elements within the early monastery at Armagh. The site known as ‘fort of the guests’ was a church hostelry within a ringfort-type ditch and was located within the precincts of ancient Armagh. It is possible that the ‘ringfort’ may have been part of the ecclesiastical landscape of early Killeavy. As could be seen, the potential for archaeology was high.

The area immediately outside the graveyard was of most concern, as there was a strong possibility that the landscape within 100m or more of the churchyard could have been part of the original spread of the Early Christian and medieval monastic site.

Evidence of potato rigs was uncovered running approximately east–west. These probably dated to the 19th century and have no archaeological significance. Other than these, the only evidence of features cut into the subsoil was the recent burial of a farm animal and some large pits filled with modern rubble close to the reservoir.

Nothing of archaeological significance was noted.

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