Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/02/028

Address :
Inishargy Church 11 Inishargy Road Inishargy Kircubbin Newtownards Co. Down BT22 2RG

Townland:
Inishargy

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Demolished

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Demolished

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OS Map No:
168/8

IG Ref:
J6039 6475

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Split rubble foundation ruins of a medieval church, situated within the garden of a house on a hill top north of Kircubbin. The ruin itself is rectangular in plan form and measures c.22m x c.5m, and reaches a height not more than 0.25m on the N side and c.0.5m on the S side. The rubble, however, looks as though it has been reconstructed (or rearranged) recently and therefore may not follow exactly the original coursing of the building. There is a small gap in the rubble on the N side [?originally a doorway]. In the former interior of the church there are three grave slabs, two of which are still legible and date back to 1661 and 1758 respectively. Both graves relate to the Bailie family who built the adjacent Inishargy House in the 1620s, a house which was largely remodelled in the first half of the twentieth century and now appears, to all intents and purposes, modern.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The ‘Church of Inishargy’ (‘ecclesiam de Ynchemackargi’) is mentioned in a Papal document of 1204, however, an incised grave slab with a plain cross and Gaelic characters, which was removed from the site some years ago, suggests that the building may have a history which pre dates the Norman arrival in the Ards. Throughout the later medieval period Inishargy features in various ecclesiastical sources, such as the taxation of Pope Nicholas of 1306, in which the church is valued at 8 marks (£5 2s 2d). By the mid seventeenth century, when the Bailie family built the adjacent Inishargy House, the church had fallen into disuse and was commented upon as being in a ruinous state by William Montgomery in 1683. In 1703 the parish itself was amalgamated with those of Ballywalter and Ballyhalbert and a new church built the following year at Balligan. Inishargy House itself was constructed in the 1620s by Alexander Bailie and added to later in the century. It remained in Bailie family hands until the 1780s when it was sold by James Bailie to Rev. R. Ward. The building was extensively remodelled in the 1930s, and through some of the original fabric remains, the present house is largely modern. References- Primary sources 1 'Pontifica Hibernia: medieval papal chancery documents concerning Ireland, 640-1261', ed. Maurice P. Sheehy, Vol. I, doc. 59. 2 “Ecclesiastical taxation in the Dioceses of Down, Connor and Dromore”, ed. William Reeves, in 'Ecclesiastical antiquities of Down Connor and Dromore', ed. William Reeves (Dublin 1847), p.18. 3 Walter Harris 'The Ancient and Present State of The County of Down' (Dublin 1744), p. 48. [Inishargy House]. 4 'Taylor’s and Skinners’s Maps of the roads of Ireland' (Dublin, 1777) [Inishargy House]. 5 PRONI D.24/1, D.366/116, T.798 etc. etc., documents concerning the Baillie family of Inishargy from the 1600s and 1700s etc. Secondary sources 1 Montgomery’s MSS ‘History of the Ards’ (1683), p. 6-7. [Original MS in the Linenhall Library, Belfast]. 2 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Edition, 1834, Co. Down 18. 3 Rev. J. O’ Laverty 'Diocese of Down and Connor Ancient and Modern' (1878, reprinted 1980), Vol. I p. 108. 4 'Archaeological Survey of County Down' (Belfast, 1966), p. 303. 5 J.C. Beckett, Francis Jackson et al 'St. Andrew’s Inishargy Balligan' (?Belfast ?1966), pp. 5-6. 6 R.S.J. Clarke (compiler) 'Gravestone Inscriptions Vol.14, County Down, Barony of Ards' (U.H.F. Belfast 1975), p. 34. 7 Philip Robinson and Dick Oram ‘Inishargie: some notes and ideas concerning this historical site’ in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.7' (1983), pp. 26-28. 8 A.J. Hughes and R.J. Hannan 'Place-Names of Northern Ireland Vol. Two, County Down II- The Ards', pp. 83-86.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Split stone foundation ruins of an unusually narrow medieval church. Whilst the site of this church is still of local importance, the actual remaining fabric of the building is less so as it appears the stones have been rearranged and consequently may not follow the original coursing of the building. The adjacent Inishargy House has largely been remodelled during the twentieth century and now bears no resemblance to the original seventeenth century building.

General Comments

Date of Survey

03 October 1997