Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB16/01/002

Address :
St. Mary’s Church, Bloody Bridge, Ballagh Road, Newcastle, Co Down BT33 0LA

Townland:
Ballaghanery Upper

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
Yes

Derelict:
Yes

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OS Map No:
269/7

IG Ref:
J3883 2674

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Owner Category

Local Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

A semicircular chancel arch in split Silurian rubble is all that remains upstanding. The outline of the nave walls can be seen in the ground. Ancient gravestones are dotted around the field.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The date of the present structure is unknown. A Terrier of 1615 records “Capella de Balloch-enevry” hereabouts, and it may well be of medieval date. It is marked as a ruin in the 1834 OS 6” map. An 1844 etching shows stonework above the arch. The HMBB survey sheet states that the arch was rebuilt in the relatively recent past. UAHS states that this building was ‘one of several chapels attached to the medieval Plebnia of Kilkeel, the others in 1526 including Kilcoo, Kilmegan, Tamlaght and Greencastle.’ This is a scheduled monument Ref SMR 49:12 Primary Sources: 1. PRONI- OS 6/3/49/1 (1834 OS map). 2. HMBB Survey Card dated 11/04/1972. Secondary Sources: 1. ‘Archaeological Survey County Down’ (Belfast 1966), pp.298-9. 2. ‘Papers read before the Down and Connor Church Architecture Society’ (Belfast 1845), pp.17-9. 3. T. Steele, ‘St. Mary’s Church and Bloody Bridge’, in Field excursions in Ulster, vol.3 (Ulster Folklife Society 1985), p.2. 4. P. Rankin, ‘Historic Buildings in the Mourne area of South Down’ (Belfast 1975), p.69..

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Scheduled monument (Down 49:12).

General Comments

Date of Survey

18 June 1997