Clochan, Cill Mhuire, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Settlement Sites

Clochan, Cill Mhuire, Co. Kerry

At Cill Mhuire on the Dingle Peninsula, the Ordnance Survey maps mark a circular enclosure that no longer exists in any visible form.

Whatever boundary once defined this place, whether a low stone wall, an earthen bank, or some combination of both, has been absorbed entirely into the landscape. It is the kind of site that rewards close reading of a map rather than a visit, because the ground itself offers nothing to see.

When a researcher named Curran documented the site, he recorded traces of two clochans in the interior. A clochan is a dry-stone beehive hut, corbelled inward course by course until the walls meet at the top, a construction technique associated with early Christian monastic settlements along the Atlantic seaboard of Kerry. Curran was also told that a quern stone, the kind of rough, hand-operated grinding stone used to mill grain, had been found somewhere within the enclosure. Local memory added another detail: that there had once been a souterrain on the site, an underground passage or chamber typically built from stone, often associated with early medieval settlements and used for storage or concealment. Together, these fragments suggest a small community or hermitage of some kind, modest in scale and now entirely gone, leaving only a place name and a dashed outline on a map as evidence of its existence.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Clochan, Cill Mhuire, Co. Kerry. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement