Ballylaneen

Ballylaneen Baile Uí Laithín
—  Town  —
Ballylaneen Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°10′N 7°24′W
Country	Ireland
County	County Waterford
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference

Ballylaneen (Irish: Baile Uí Laithín) is a small village in County Waterford, Ireland, approximately halfway between the villages of Kilmacthomas and Bunmahon on a hill by the River Mahon.

Features

The village features a Catholic church (St. Annes, built in 1924), a public house and St. Anne's Holy Well. The village was larger in the 19th century and gave its name to a parish of its own, but is now part of Stradbally parish. There was a large mill east of the village on the river Mahon, whose ruin is still standing. This was one of five, which were sited on the river Mahon. The other four were at Mahonbridge (one) and Kilmacthomas (three). There are two graveyards in Ballylaneen. The newer of the two, adjacent to St Anne's church has one grave of interest: a flat horizontal tombstone commemorating Mark Anthony of Carrigcastle (1786 – 1 June 1867) who was an officer in the British Royal Navy and served in the battle of Trafalgar. The old graveyard (rarely used nowadays) is outside the present village on the Kilmacthomas road. It is the burial place of the poet Tadhg Gaelach (see below). To the west, there is an ancient circular enclosure called Cathair Breac on a hill overlooking the village. The village had a primary school, originally established under the British National School system. It was closed down in the 1950s, after which pupils from the area went to Seafield. The old school building is still there, adjacent to the old graveyard. The best-known teacher at the National School was Tom Walsh. While he taught there, children from other school catchment areas attended, e.g. Jack Kiely of Stradbally (later FRCSI) and David Hill of Kilmacthomas (later MPSI), around 1910.

People

Inscription on the gravestone for Tadhg Gaelach O'Suilleabhain.

It is the burial place of the poet Tadhg Gaelach O'Suilleabhain. His stone is a flat upright monument with a curved top and a latin inscription on the front. The Latin epitaph was composed by the poet Donncha Rua mac Conmara (buried in Newtown, 4 miles away). The Irish translation on the black plastic plaque (shown right) was done by Tom Walsh (Tomas Breatnac), the teacher in the Old National School in the early 1900s.

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland