St. Nicholas's Church, Kilballykeeffe

On a W-facing slope, in the NE portion of a roughly D-shaped graveyard (KK022-015002-). There are good views from W-N-NE. The church is indicated on the Down Survey (1655-6) barony of Crannagh and parish map of ‘The Parrish of Ballicallan and parte of the Parrish of Tullohan’. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 436), ‘Kyleballykeeffe Church was a chapel of ease to the parish church of Tullaghanbroge. About the year 1230, the Dean and Chapter of St. Canice’s Cathedral confirmed to the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin, the grant made thereto of the church of Tullachbroch (Tullaghanbroge) and the “Chapel of Balykene.”’. St Nicholas was the patron (ibid.).

A rectangular church (ext. dims. 14.2m E-W x 7.7m N-S; wall T c. 0.9m) constructed of roughly coursed limestone and shale rubble, the quoins at each angle have been removed. It is heavily ivy clad. Both gables stand to full height with a double bellcote surmounting the W gable and the side walls survive to a maximum height of 2m. The church was entered through a doorway in the W gable, now blocked, though none of the dressed stone surround survives. Immediately inside, in the W gable S of the doorway, there is a square limestone holy water stoup (dims. 0.27m x 0.27m), with a circular bowl (diam. 0.24m; D 0.09m), projecting from the wall. The angles are chamfered and curve towards the moulded circular base and the three sides have been cut to form flat D-shaped faces.

There is a limestone ogee-headed single-light window in the E gable. The OS Letters (1839) describe ‘a broken window’ in the S wall (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 237 (80-1)). According to Holahan (1883, 86), ‘The altar stone is nine feet [c. 2.7m] long, by three feet [c. 0.9m] wide. It is now buried in the floor near the western gable, where it seems to have been placed when the church was used as a ball-court. Old Father Laracy had some of the stones (KK018-099----) of this church removed to Ballycallan for the purpose of building a porch to the old chapel (the present schoolhouse)’.

At the E end of the S wall there is a plain cut-limestone pointed piscina recess (int. dims. 0.77m x 0.42m) containing shallow piscina (diam. 0.32m) with a rectangular drainage channel. A roughly cut corbel projects from the inner face of the E gable, S of the window.