Ballintemple

History

Temple Hill, Churchyard Lane, and Ballintemple itself derive their names from an ecclesiastical and burial site at the top of Temple Hill. While some historical texts suggest that this graveyard was sited at an early medieval church of the Knights Templar, this is not supported by other texts, and modern historians assert that this association is incorrect. Whatever the case, while the graveyard remains, no archaeological evidence of an adjoining church has been subject to modern survey. The graveyard itself has been surveyed, and while it may have been used in the early mediaeval period, the earliest recorded burial event was that of the entrails of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton who was killed in the 1690 Siege of Cork and whose intestines were removed and buried here to preserve the body prior to transport back to England. The earliest remaining extant burial markers (with discernable dates) are dated to the early 18th century. The antiquary and folklorist Thomas Crofton Croker surveyed the graveyard in the early 19th century. He recorded a folksong relating to the graveyard as well as documenting a marker for an 18th-century burial of a Lieutenant Henry Richard Temple who died with his young wife during a journey from the Caribbean (via Ireland) to England. During one such survey in the early 1800s, Croker was chased by locals who mistook his survey for grave robbery. The graveyard is accessible but closed to new burials (save to a few families with existing burial rights).

Other memorial markers in Ballintemple include the McCarthy Monument (constructed in the 19th century at Diamond Hill to honour ex-MP Alexander McCarthy), and a plaque at the junction of Ardfoyle and Blackrock road (commemorating the 1798 hanging in Ballintemple of an accused United Irishman).

The ruins of Dundanion Castle lie close to Páirc Uí Chaoimh by the River Lee. William Penn, the founder of the state of Pennsylvania, is said to have departed from here on his journey to the United States in 1682. Some time earlier, Sir Walter Raleigh is reported to have spent some time here before setting off on his final voyage to the West Indies in August 1617.

George Boole, the mathematician and inventor of Boolean algebra, lived in Ballintemple during the nineteenth century whilst professor at University College Cork. He died in December 1864, after catching pneumonia as the result of a rain storm whilst walking the four miles between his house and the university to give a lecture.

The old, abandoned Beaumont Quarry lies adjacent to Páirc Uí Rinn and Temple Hill. In its time, it provided limestone blocks for some of the notable buildings of Cork City. Prior to the expansion of Cork's suburbs in the 20th century, Ballintemple (as with nearby Ballinlough and Flower Lodge) was also home to a number of market gardens and nurseries - such as that of William Baylor Hartland.