Ballinaboy Church of Ireland, Ballinhassig.
The original structure on this site was built around 1700, it was probably associated with the medieval town, Ballinaboy. In 1876 the church that we see today was built using pieces of the old structure. It lies in ruins today, but we can still see the stonework and the beautiful arch windows. There are many headstones in this graveyard from the 1700s which is always fascinating to see.
There is a story that comes with this old church and graveyard "The Dead Coachman."
The tale takes place on a dark October night in the early 19th century. Under the cover of darkness a man arrived at Ballinaboy Graveyard with a horse and covered car. The man was a body snatcher who managed to get past the night watchman who was probably asleep in the stone lodge by the gate! He then proceeded to dig up a recently buried corpse, put it in the car and leave.
Fearing being caught he strapped the corpse to the driver’s seat, put the reins in through the front window. As he passed by the public house, a group of men standing outside it hailed him down and asked the corpse, where he was going. Suddenly the other door opened and the real driver emerged and distracted the men by asking them to go for a drink with him in the pub! The men of course said yes and the corpse driver stayed outside! Once satisfied he had turned the locals’ attention away from his grim deed, the body snatcher came back out of the pub and ordered his corpse driver to take off for Cork city.
In the 1800’s, grave robbing was a popular way to make money. They supplied doctors in colleges with corpses for anatomy classes, the fresher the corpse the higher the fee. In extreme circumstances, people resorted to burying their deceased loved ones in gardens until such a time they could safely bury them in a cemetery as a body snatcher wouldn’t be interested in a “stale” corpse! To stop body snatching The Anatomy Act of 1832 was passed which allowed deceased paupers in workhouses to be used for anatomical research and this gradually ended the careers of many body snatchers as their gruesome services were not needed any more!
Nice spot for a quick stroll, parking available