Attempting to chart the history of a site as ancient as Ballyeglish Old Graveyard can be incredibly frustrating. Gazing across the burial ground is enough to convince even a layman of the great antiquity of the place. However, trying to provide documentary evidence of it is quite another thing altogether.
It’s easy to weave theories about how Ballyeglish Old Graveyard came to be. Sometimes theories are all we have. Thankfully, with Ballyeglish Old Graveyard, we have features on the site itself to help with building up a more feasible picture of at least some of what took place over millennia there.
Central to all is the holy well. This quaint feature sits quietly, close to one corner of the graveyard as it is today. It is currently named for Naomh Bríd,or Saint Bríghid, a 5th century abbess of great renown. The saint is believed to have been named for the Celtic deity of the same name, with the well originally dedicated to the older one. Both goddess and saint are associated with smiths, poetry, wisdom, domesticated animals and healing. This last aspect explains why holy wells are said to contain “cures” for various ailments. The font at Ballyeglish is no different, and is regularly visited by penitents in search of relief for a variety of illnesses, the waters being a more general curative. Bríghid has no known association with this area, according to her biographers. But this is not unusual, as Tom Jones might say. Many wells across Ireland are named for the saint without her having been there. The name was simply transferred from one to the other as religious preferences changed. Note that 1st February is known as Imbolc in the pagan tradition, the first day of Spring dedicated to the goddess. It is also, unsurprisingly, the feast day of St Bríghid.
The actual formation of the well is, at this time, understood to have been the result of glacial plucking. When the great ice-sheets moved slowly across the land, they ripped up some rocky protrusions even as they smoothed the tops of others. On occasion, when rocky outcrops were torn from the bedrock, a gap or depression was left, into which water found its way to form a pool. This process is thought to have been the reason why the passage tomb at Slieve Gullion, in south Armagh, was built where it was, as a hole exists in the bedrock in the centre of the temple. It was believed to have been used for religious ceremonies, and burnt human remains were found within it during an excavation in the 1950’s.
At Ballyeglish, the same feature would have been a mystery to the first people to happen upon it, perhaps as far back as 12,000 years ago, when people arrived to the area. It’s easy to see how they would believe that some supernatural or godly force was involved in gouging out a sizeable hole in the bedrock. The pool then becomes a site of religious importance, and would have been a votive site in keeping with that tradition seen elsewhere in Ireland and overseas.
When, eventually, Christianity arrives, the advocates of the new faith seek to encourage converts. They utilise existing pagan sites to provide continuity of worship in particular places. We can only imagine the, perhaps subtle, battle that took place at Ballyeglish, as the monotheists tried to entice the pagans into embracing the new faith.
Pagan wells could realistically have been used as places of baptism into the new religion, a means of superimposing one faith over another by co-opting religious features. We can only guess at how many locals were christened at the old well at Ballyeglish.
Eventually, the holy well, still perhaps caught up in the struggle between faiths, was named for the Christian saint as the teachings of the Nazarene began to dominate and unseat the older beliefs. The noble lady from Faughart/Kildare has managed to retain tentative ownership of the holy font to this day, her brand still holding sway.
Patrick the Briton was said to have arrived in Ireland in 432. During his lifetime, recounted in Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii (The Tripartite Life of St Patrick), the holy man is recorded as having visited the general area on the western shores of Lough Neagh. It’s there he met Cairtheann Beg, father of the child who was to become St Trea, brought into the church and blessed, at least twice, by the industrious Briton. Patrick is said to have founded 7 churches in the land stretching from the Moyola River (originally, an Bíor) down to Dungannon (note: the Ballinderry River was originally named Abhainn Mór, and the Lower Bann was, an Lí).
Although some of his churches have been documented in modern-day Tyrone, none have been formally identified in what is now south County Derry. However, The Ballyeglish Society has a few ideas about that (our Society has a lot of ideas). Churches named for particular saints tend to keep that association down through the centuries. This is not a hard fact, but more a good rule of thumb.
In the south Derry portion of the territory visited by Patrick, there are currently 3 churches with an old/ancient association with Patrick. One is at Chapel Hill, Ballinderry, named for the saint. The second is at Keenaught, where the older church is also named for him, although that location is on the edge of the territory listed in his biography. The third is at The Loup, adjacent to Ballyeglish Old Graveyard.
It is not inconceivable that the original church at Ballyeglish Old Graveyard was erected by the only foreign patron saint of Ireland. This would explain the name being carried down through the centuries in the locality, as well as the folklore involving a boulder at Loup Catholic Church which is said to show where St Patrick knelt when praying locally. Young lads who were altar boys in the same church can empathise with the saint in this, as they can testify to just how painful it was to kneel before the altar when serving mass. Judging by the state of that boulder, if Patrick wore trousers, he would have been a sore fella on the knees of them.
Patrick’s earliest churches were of clay and wattle, to be replaced later with stone-built structures. In the O.S. memoirs of the 1830s, it states:
In the townland of Ballyeglish there is an ancient burial ground locally called Eglish. It is nearly square, being 60 yards by 60 yards in the interior, and is enclosed by a quickset fence intermixed with forest trees. According to tradition an abbey once stood on the north east corner. At present, there is not a vestige of it to be seen. About one half of the interior is occupied by tombs, graves and headstone. A few families still continue to bury in it. Close to it and on the eastern side there is a rocky eminence called Tamnatuska, which is said to have been used as a burial place before the Eglish.
The burial site is again mentioned later in the same memoirs, but little additional historical information is given. The folklore dates Eglish as extremely old, and attributes an abbey to the place. Sadly, folklore is notoriously unreliable. That doesn’t mean that there was no abbey, only that it’s not proven. Given the entire site, including the surrounding landscape, it seems probable that a settlement of some sort was established here from the early days of the Christian faith, particularly if Patrick founded a church building here, as it would have been deemed an important place in keeping with any pre-Christian beliefs.
The rocky eminence mentioned can still be seen, although it appears to have had the rough edges removed. It’s an unusual feature sitting prominently in the large field that adjoins Ballyeglish Old Graveyard. It’s possible that this height is also related to glaciology, and could be a moraine, a jumble of rocks and soil dumped by the melting glaciers approximately 15,000 years ago. It is certainly an anomaly upon the landscape.
The name Tamnatuska has been liberally interpreted over the years. It is the considered opinion of The Ballyeglish Society, given the land features and with reference to P.W. Joyce’s Irish Local Names Explained (1923), that the name comes from one of two old Gaelic origins.
The first is Tamhnaigh h-Eiscir, which means the green field of the ridge or sand hill. If the anomalous height is proven to have a lot of sand within it, as it well might, then we can conclude that this is the origin of the Anglicised term. Eiscir is often pronounced esker in English translations (Joyce). Research will have to decide on this suggestion.
The second possibility is Tamhnaigh an tSeascainn, which means the marshy green field. Even today, after field drains have been laid, the meadow, between Ballyeglish Old Graveyard and the anomalous height, remains marshy ground. Seiscenn is often pronounced teskin or taskin in the English translation of townlands (Joyce). The end syllable of Tamhnaigh would rise to the t sound in Tamnatusker in everyday speech, but in the second possibility we can hear more clearly the t sound. Either of the above name suggestion endings would give rise to usker. A little digging through language could now mean a little digging through soil to find answers, although a betting man, or woman, might put their money on the second. Yet the first carries greater mystery and a unique hope. We’ll see.
Picture the scene. It’s 458CE, Patrick has entered a tribal land where he is regarded with suspicion. He is met with frown and sword, warning yet curiosity. He manages to elicit permission to establish a small oratory, clay and wattle made (thank you Yeats), on the height close to a well that is sacred to the local community. He doesn’t force the issue, as that’s never wise with Irish people. So Patrick places his structure within hailing distance of the main religious feature thereabouts. There it remains for a generation or so, or until the locals fully embrace the new faith. Burials are initially placed on the height, close to the church. The well is used for baptisms as a means of gradually incorporating it into Christian worship. It is cleverly subsumed.
Eventually, Patick’s faithful make their move. They build an embankment, close to the holy well (perhaps named for St Bríghid by this time, perhaps not), to create level ground for the building of their stone church. When this is completed, it’s a fait accompli, job’s a good ‘un, put yer money in the plate (plenty of seats at the front, no talkin’ down the back).
The embankment is still there for the most part. It appears to have been circular in nature, entirely surrounding the graveyard, with some sections missing today. Yet, enough remains that we can see the intent. The level ground is now covered with burials. But, back at its construction, it would have been virgin ground, perfect for positioning a new church. Oh, the pride they must have felt when it was finished.
So it continued, for centuries, the Christian faith growing stronger across the island until the old gods were banished from everywhere but the superstitions and mythology. But why did it stop? Why did the church building(s) disappear?
I wish we could tell you with any authority, but we have only ideas; suggestions and theories that need proof. Currently, the one we embrace the firmest, is that of the hairy-faced lads from Scandinavia. No, not Abba, but the Vikings.
The Annals of Ulster record the Vikings as having visited Lough Neagh on 5 occasions, usually day-tripping on their beano, taking in the sights, meeting the locals, raping, pillaging, plundering, the usual. The dates are as follows:
839 – plundering lands and churches; 841 – back again; 928 – ravaged islands and territories surrounding lough Neagh; 930 – at Ruib Mena (Shane’s Castle today); 945 – all killed by Domnall, son of Muirchertach, with his kinsman Flaithbertach, and their fleet destroyed.
You have to love the names back then. After 945, the Vikings never again disturbed the peace of the people of Lough Neagh. Others did, but not the Vikings. But what damage did they do during their 5 sojourns? It difficult to say with any degree of accuracy. They left few specific records. But we know that they were brutal when it came to such expeditions. There really was rape and rapine. Slaves were taken, as was any item of value. Communities were devastated. Religious communities especially. The Vikings would have been a terror to any community at Ballyeglish, most especially if it was a female monastic settlement as has been suggested by some with scholarly intent.
Destruction of the settlement and its buildings by the Vikings would go some way to explaining why all record of the church had gone by the time of the Plantation in the 1600’s. If the damaged building was left derelict for 600 years, then very little of note would have remained by the time the first Planters arrived. It’s possible the later colonists removed building stones from the rubble to use in their homes and byres, leaving only that which they didn’t want, which is what we see today scattered along the eastern perimeter of the site. These stones, some of which are of considerable weight, might have been removed from the higher ground to make way for burials where the old church used to stand. At Ardboe, not too far distant, there are modern graves within the old church, named for St Colmán, a relative of St Trea. Precedent is established.
On Monday 14th October 2019, a geophysical survey was commissioned by a local interest group. It focused upon that part of the graveyard not covered by obvious burials. The results were interesting in that, firstly, they showed that the church building was most likely not where the survey took place. Although there were overlapping layers of archaeological activity (one local described it as resembling a plate of spaghetti), nothing indicated that a rectangular structure had ever stood there.
Adopting the assertion of that famous Victorian investigator, Mr Holmes, … when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, we can now reasonably presume that; given the building of an embankment and the reasoning behind it, i.e creating level ground, and allowing for the elimination of the portion of the graveyard that has been surveyed, the remaining portion of the graveyard must be the location of the old church. Phew! But, proving it…
The research continues. The Ballyeglish Society has hopes and plans to have a LiDAR survey taken of the old graveyard and its environs. This would almost certainly help to establish the whereabouts of the original church build(s), abbey and any settlement structures. We have purchased a drone to assist in our investigations in this respect. Perhaps we will be able to have a small archaeological excavation conducted once we decide exactly where we want to investigate. It’s all very exciting for those of us interested in finding out the ancient origins of this very special place.
Updates upon the history of Ballyeglish Old Graveyard and its environs can be found on either our newsfeed for this site, or the submenu for this page, History – Posts (access located on the main page menu, History).
Bígí linn
The Ballyeglish Society 