Ballybeg Augustinian Priory

Less than 2km south of Buttevant, stands Ballybeg Priory, dovecote and tower. The priory is an Augustinian Priory founded in 1229 by Philip de Barry, kinsman to the Barry’s of Barryscourt Castle, and dedicated to St Thomas Becket. It is one of only two substantial Augustinian monasteries in Cork, with Ballybeg initially granted just over two thousand acres which increased over the centuries.

A very wealthy monastic settlement, Ballybeg was dissolved in 1541 with the dissolution of the monasteries, under Henry VIII. The priory was in ruins by 1750, with much of the stone being used elsewhere in the locality. What is seen today are the ruins of the priory, its church, and claustral ranges. Remains of a sedilia and three stone-built burial chests are visible. In the late medieval period three towers and circular columbarium were built onto the priory.

Architectural features include, in the interior of the priory, a 13^th century window with a banded shaft that bears a capital of  foliage with three small human faces, two carved animal heads with mouths open (which functioned as rope-holes), and a carved human head on piers, which was typical of early English Gothic architecture.

The columbarium, or dovecot, is perfectly preserved and holds a continuous upward spiral of nesting boxes, 352 to be exact. The immense wealth of Ballybeg is long forgotten however to have had such a columbarium. Under medieval law, having one pigeon nest meant the owner had to have 1¼ acres.

The need for such an excess of pigeons was simply the waste they produced. This was used as fertilizer by the monks and seen as having higher economical value than that produced by any other animal.

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