Templestragh Old Cemetery, Portbradden

Coordinates 55.23525873634517, -6.420692687118667 The ruins of the building ‘with burying ground contiguous’ were noted in the 1830s by the Ordnance Survey which also recorded: ‘it is supposed to have been formerly the church for the parish of Billy and Ballintoy’ (OSM xxiv 12). Nearer to the shore was found another ‘ancient graveyard’ in which were to be seen ‘some traces of an ancient building locally said to be the original foundation of Templeastragh ancient church’ (ibid. 18). The Archaeological Survey of 1940 noted: ‘The present church ruin is undoubtedly the successor of the original which apparently was N. of it’, and that ‘the masonry of the church so closely resembles in minute detail that of the castle of Dunineny as to suggest that they are contemporary, early 16th century’ (PSAMNI 4).