Church, Coolroe, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Churches & Chapels
At Coolroe in County Kerry, a church is recorded that has left no trace whatsoever above ground.
No stone, no outline, no fragment of wall survives to mark the spot. It exists in the historical record as a name and a location, nothing more.
The site is believed to post-date 1700 AD, which places it in the period after the worst disruptions of the Penal era, when Catholic worship in Ireland was legally suppressed and church building was severely restricted. A structure from that period might have been modest to begin with, built quickly and without the kind of substantial stonework that survives the centuries. Whether it fell into disuse, was demolished, or simply dissolved back into the landscape over time is not known. What remains is the designation itself, a point on the map where a place of worship once stood, now indistinguishable from the surrounding ground.
