Aghavallen Cemetery Ballylongford - Ballylongford - Kerry - Ireland

This site served as the original parish church of Ballylongford. The current structure dates back to the 15th century, replacing an earlier church that had stood since the 6th century. It was endowed by John O’Connor-Kerry, and records in the Papal Registers of the 14th and 15th centuries note that many parish priests were members of the hereditary clerical family of O’Kennelly.

Following the Cromwellian conquest in 1653, the church was taken over by the Protestant community. Prominent landowning families such as the Sandes, Ponsonbys (descendants of Cromwellian officers), Crosbies, Colts, and Popes are commemorated here with impressive tombstones and mausolea.

Notably, this church was the site of the baptism of Herbert Horatio Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, Britain’s renowned military strategist during World War I, in 1851.