Ballintubber

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Ballintubber
Baile an Tobair

Location

WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
53.7333° N 9.3000° W

Irish Grid Reference
M142767

Statistics

64 m

Population (2002)
- Town:
- Rural:

-
345

Ballintubber or Ballintober (Irish: Baile an Tobair) is an ancient village in County Mayo, Ireland, famous for its abbey which was founded in 1216. The Irish translation is "Town of the Well".

Set against the backdrop of the Partry Mountains, the countryside of Ballintubber is rich in history and historical sites including Ballintubber Abbey, Mayo Abbey and the round tower at Aghagower.

The history of Ballintubber goes back to pre-Christian times, when people came from the east, through Ballintubber, on their way to the holy mountain on the West Coast now called Croagh Patrick.

When St Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland in c. 441 AD, he founded a church at Ballintubber. The present Ballintubber Abbey was founded in 1216 by King Cathal O'Conor. It is the only church in Ireland still in daily use which was founded by an Irish king.^{[citation needed]}

Church records for Balintubber and Burriscarra parish commenced in 1839 and are held at the South Mayo Family Research Centre in Ballinrobe.

[edit] Other Ballintubbers

There is a Ballintubber or Ballintubbert, in County Laois, Ireland, where Cecil Day-Lewis, English Poet Laureate (1968-72) and father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, was born in 1904, in the rectory. This house was later owned by the actor John Hurt. This Ballintubber is 7 kilometers from the town of Athy.

There is also a Ballintubber, in County Roscommon, Ireland, 6 kilometers from the town of Castlerea. It contains a reasonably well preserved remains of a stone castle first mentioned in writing in 1311. It is not recorded who built the castle, but the builders may either be the Normans, or the O'Conor family who ruled Connaught at various times during the last two millennia.