Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB06/04/018

Address :
Graveyard at Ballyprior More Brown’s Bay Road Islandmagee Larne Co Antrim

Townland:
Ballyprior More

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Graveyard

Former Use
Graveyard

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
Yes

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
71/10

IG Ref:
D4524 0087

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Owner Category

Miscellaneous

Exterior Description And Setting

A graveyard in a raised enclosure part revetted with stone and entered by a gateway comprising rectangular piers of rubble basalt harled, the one to the west containing a small chamber used as a store with a cast iron door; flat-iron gate; cement rendered steps to western pier. The graveyard is recorded as containing memorials from the 17th and 18th centuries but mainly in evidence now are those of the 19th and 20th centuries, none of them of any special architectural interest. One unusual stone is carved with a hand in relief on its reverse; inscription and date not legible. The graveyard stands in a very secluded
setting surrounded by open countryside but bounded by shrubs and hedges, reached by a lane off the main road.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Appears on OS map of 1832. Reputedly the site of the monastery of Ballyprior but no building now remains; described in the early 19th century as “a place of extreme antiquity”; the oldest inscription recorded at that time dated from 1687. The graveyard is recorded as a monument, SMR no. ANT41:5. References - Primary 1. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 10: Parishes of County Antrim III (Belfast, 1991), p 43. 2. OS Map 1832, Co Antrim 41.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A graveyard of some antiquity and thus of some local historic interest but with insufficient architectural interest to be listed.

General Comments

Date of Survey

08 November 1997