Ballybeg Priory
Co. Cork.

Documenting our Heritage

In 1229 Philip de Barry dedicated Ballybeg Priory to St Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who had been brutally murdered on the steps of his altar in 1170. Philip de Barry’s grandson David de Barry enlarged the priory around forty years later.

In 1574 the Friary was in the hands of George Bouchier, in 1605 Sir David Norton and in 1610 Sir John Jephson.

The pigeon house, which still survives in a well preserved condition, contains 352 niches, divided into 11 tiers. It is said that it ranks among the finest of its kind in Ireland. The pigeon house’s main function was for the production of fertiliser; pigeon fertiliser (guano) was more highly valued than anything produced by cattle, sheep or pigs. Pigeons were however regarded as vermin and strictly controlled by medieval law, one nest was permitted per measure of land equal to approximately an acre and a quarter. Hence it can be concluded that the priory lands amounted to some four hundred and forty acres.

It is said that during the eighteenth century an image lined vault was discovered in the Pigeon Field. Being located handy to the main Cork road, the images were broken up and used to repair pot holes, thus easing the journey of passengers to Cork.

Another local legend relates that around 1790 a blacksmith named Mr Supple dreamt of a horde of gold hidden in the priory grounds.  He acted on his dream and after some days digging came to a stone coffin. Inside the coffin he found a skeleton adorned with heavy gold chains. The gold chains were promptly dispatched to a goldsmith in Cork where they were melted down, the stone coffin was used as a pig trough by a nearby farmer.

This article is the copyright of Tarquin Blake, Abandoned Ireland, and may not be reproduced in any form without permission.