Ballaghmore / Ballinla / Bellaghmore / Bealach Mór

A stone trough located in the graveyard of the church is claimed in some local sources as an ancient baptismal font but the entry in the HistoricGraves project [https://historicgraves.com/graveyard/ballaghmore/la-bghr] [accessed 5 November 2023] identifies it as a sarcophagus, not a font: "Graveyard contains a Catholic church dedicated to St Molua (built 1812, extensively renovated 1978); marked on 1841 OS map as 'R.C. Chapel'; 1913 OS map has 'St. Molua's Trough' marked in addition, this appears to be the same as RMP (LA015-033), a sarcophagus." Noted and illustrated in Megalithic Ireland [http://www.megalithicireland.com/St Molua's Trough, Ballinla, County Laois.html] [accessed 5 November 2023]: "Ballinla. St Molua's Trough/Sarcophagus. St Molua's trough previously lay under a hawthorn tree in the Old Kyle Cemetery, Clonfertmulloe. It is about one metre in length by 1/2 metre wide. The 40 cm deep sandstone trough had a lip running around the top on the inside. This lip appears to have been cemented over during appallingly bad repairs to the trough. It is officially classed as a sarcophagus, so the lip may have supported a lid. It may have held a reliquary of the saint. The sarcophagus is now resting on a concrete base in the grounds of St Molua's Catholic Church in Ballaghmore Village." Noted and illustrated in The Standing Stone [http://www.thestandingstone.ie/2011/05/st-moluas-trough-ballinla-co-laois.html] [accessed 5 November 2023] also as a trough: "This trough was originally located at Old Kyle Cemetery under a now missing rag tree. It is unsure entirely what this originally was. The trough measures roughly 1m by 0.5m and is 0.4m deep and is missing a lid although it does appear as if there was originally one as the stone is lipped to accommodate a lid. There is no water outlet for this trough so it is unlikely that it ever actually served as a trough at all. It is more likely that it was some kind of relic box belonging to the nearby church foundation. However, if it did ever belong to St. Molua there is no real evidence beyond the name of the trough."