Ballyadams Castle | Harpole Slab | Old Church Ballyadams | Ballyadams Hill

 

The Old Church of Ballyadams

This church was originally called Kilmackeady, "The church of Macaedh". It is situated on the south side of Ballyadams Hill about half a mile from the Castle. The church is now in ruins, the last clergyman to officiate there was Rev. Arthur Jocelyn
Weldon of Rahinderry, Rector of Killabban, who died in 1826. On the north wall of the church,, is the Bowen monument, erected in 1631 to the memory of Robert Bowen and his wife Alice Harpole. It is a five and a half foot high limestone monument, bearing a crest and an elaborate Coat of Arms, and an epitaph. The Arms and Crest are those of Bowens and Harpole. The Epitaph reads as follows;
'An epitaph on the death of Robert Bowen Esquire.
If tears prevent not every readers eye may well perceive that in
this tomb doth lie
Friends hope foes dread whose thrice victorious hand gained love, wrought peace within this joyful land
Whose worth doth mount itself on angels wings
Whose great descent was first from Royal Kings
Whose never dying virtues live for why
Whose fame's eterniz'd he can never dy "
On top of the Sarcophagus was a slab with the effigy of a man in full length armour, and a dog at his feet, and by his side the effigy of a woman in the dress of the times, these were destroyed by the Whitefeet in 1832. In front of the tomb are the figures of their four children.