Ballywiheen Monastic Site

The Ballywiheen Monastic Site takes its name from an Anglicisation of Báile An Bhaoithín, which is the official name of the townland in Irish. The site itself is known locally by Irish speakers as “An Raingléis” (The Rough Place), and is an early Christian Monastic enclosure that was dissected by the construction of a modern road in the 19^th century. Located approximately 1.5km south of An Builtín (Ballyferriter) on the slopes of Croaghmarhin Mountain. The site commands wide panoramic views of the peninsula. The now broken stone walled monastic enclosure is 63 metres in diameter.

The site’s main feature is the footprint of a small stone built corbelled chapel that would have been similar to Gallarus Oratory in its original condition. Immediately west of the remains of this oratory are the remains of two stone leachts or ritual altars. Prominent at the centre of the site is what looks like a circular stone or sundial, but is in fact the rounded top of an early medieval cross-slab, most of which is buried below the surface. At another part of the site the top of a latin cross standing 1.23 metres tall is visible, but its true height is unknown as the majority of it is now buried beneath the ground.

The site was used as a “cillín” - an informal burial place for unbaptised children, victims of suicide and others who were not afforded a formal burial by the rules and rites of the Catholic Church.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014