placenamesBallintemple
Baile an Teampaill
Ballintemple, also known as Churchtown South, is a historic East Cork parish whose records connect village life with the surrounding farms and coast.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Baile an Teampaill · Irish · main form · validated name
- Ballintemple · English · main form
Place & story
A coastal farming parish
In 1837 Samuel Lewis described Ballintemple, or Churchtown, as a parish southeast of Cloyne extending to the coast. Its land was mainly tilled, with hilly ground and shallow soils over slate. Churchtown village contained thirty-five dwellings, mostly thatched. Coastguard stations at Ballyandreen and Ballycotton connected this rural district with a wider system of coastal oversight. [2]
Shared schools and places of worship
Lewis recorded a district church built in 1835 to serve Ballintemple and Ballycotton, while the old parish church already stood in ruins. A subscription-supported school at Ballybraher served boys and girls from Ballintemple, Kilmahon and Ballycotton, alongside two pay schools. The Catholic parish arrangements linked Ballintemple with Cloyne. These institutions crossed boundaries between neighbouring local communities. [2]
Earthworks in the townlands
Patrick Power’s survey, published in 1940, recorded earthen forts across the parish, including at Ballyrobin, Ballywilliam and Maytown. At Maytown he described three examples, one enclosing roughly an acre. Underground passages were reputed to exist at another, although his account did not establish them by excavation. His field notes preserve an earlier record of earthworks within a landscape also divided into working farms. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballintemple. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Churchtown or Ballintemple, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837 · Samuel Lewis
- Place-names and antiquities of Imokilly, part 1, 1940, pages 19–21 · Patrick Power / Cork Historical and Archaeological Society
- Ballyandreen Bay in Ballintemple parish, County Cork, as photographed in September 2009 illustration: based on a Ballyandreen Bay by kevin higgins. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.