2018:361 - Ballybeg Priory, Ballybeg West, Cork

The Office of Public Works is currently engaged in a programme of conservation works at the thirteenth-century Augustinian priory at Ballybeg, south of Buttevant, Co. Cork. In conjunction with those works, archaeological excavations were carried out in three discrete areas: Area A, a breach in the north cloister wall which requires conservation works, Area B under the tower at the west end of the church, where it is proposed to erect a protective railing, and Area C, a doorway adjacent to the tower connecting the church with the cloister, where conservation works are required.

Area A was located to the west of the church, but there is reason to believe that the church was originally longer and that this area was previously within the church. Excavation here uncovered a fireplace believed to belong to a late nineteenth-century building which has since been demolished. There was also some evidence of an earlier doorway here, possibly an original thirteenth-century doorway connecting the cloister with the church interior.

In Area B three post-pits were excavated. Small in-situ flagstones found in one are interpreted as remains of the original thirteenth-century church floor. An extensive fill of loose stones found in another appeared to be the backfill of a large cavity, possibly a former burial tomb.

In Area C the foundations of the doorway were exposed.

Ballynanelagh, Rathcormac, Co. Cork