Ballyaltikilligan is up the Glen Road, centered on the top end of the Coach Road and just over half a square mile at around 334 acres. From the Irish- Baile allt Cille Aodháin, allt meaning height/cliff or glenside, Cille meaning church or chapel and Aodháin an old form of the boy's name Aidan; so perhaps we could say Place of the Glen of Aidan's Chapel.
Interestingly, in medieval times there is evidence to suggest that there was a chapel in Ballyaltikilligan known as Rogerstown Chapel listed in a taxation roll of 1306. This church supposedly stood until the 1770s when it's walls were razed. Although no remains exist today, archaeologists have identified the location of the chapel with the field still known as the Chapel Field (pictured below centre- 2023), now owned by the Horner's, a family long associated with Ballyaltikilligan. Further along the small river, where Ballyaltikilligan meets Ballystockardt at the Glen Road there was once a Flax Mill and Mill Race nearby. Although no evidence of these sites remains today, they can still be seen noted on old maps first in the OS Map of 1846, but by the OS Map of 1905 it being listed as 'Disused'.
My grandparents moved to the neighbouring townland of Ballyloughan in 1966 and lived on the Coach Road for nearly fifty years. My granny often told the story of how one night in the seventies a knock came to the door late at night and she opened it to find an English soldier. He showed her a map and pointed to the townland and asked where it was, unable to pronounce it. She responded "Oh Ballyaltikilligan" took him to the end of the garden and pointed to the nearby Ports Farm further down the Coach Road stating that once you reach the farm, you're in the townland.
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