Ecclesiastical enclosure, Baile An Chalaidh, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Ecclesiastical Sites
At the centre of this small enclosure on the Dingle Peninsula sits a large rectangular mound of stones with a slightly sunken interior, and nobody is entirely sure what it is.
One reading is that it was once a church; another, perhaps more evocative, is that it built up over centuries as pilgrims depositing stones while performing rounds, each stone a private act of devotion added to those left by everyone who came before. The site is known as Kilbeg, or An Chill Bheag, meaning the small church, and it sits roughly 30 metres east of Kilmore in Baile An Chalaidh, Co. Kerry.
The enclosure itself is subrectangular, measuring approximately 16.6 metres north-north-east to south-south-west by 13.1 metres, and is bounded by a drystone wall, that is, a wall built without mortar, now largely overgrown and collapsed, reaching a maximum height of about 1.2 metres. A low internal platform or step runs along the entire inner edge of the wall, and the entrance is at the eastern end of the south wall. Four cross-inscribed stones were once positioned at each corner of the enclosure, functioning as penitential stations where pilgrims would pause during their rounds. Only two remain upright in their original positions; a third lies loose against the south wall, and a fourth has disappeared entirely. The most elaborate object on the site is a bullaun stone, a stone bearing a deliberately carved hollow or basin, which is set on a rough stone base on the south side of the enclosure. This particular example is roughly square with a V-shaped notch along one edge, a depression 31 centimetres wide and 11 centimetres deep in its upper surface, and a small Latin cross carved beside it. Bullaun stones are found across early medieval ecclesiastical sites in Ireland, and the water that collects in their basins was often believed to have curative or protective properties. The description of the site draws on J. Cuppage's 1986 archaeological survey of the Corca Dhuibhne region, which documented the Dingle Peninsula in considerable detail.
Three upright stones still stand near the western edge of the central mound, and even in its ruined state the enclosure retains a legible logic: the wall, the internal step, the corner markers, the bullaun on its makeshift altar. What it lacks is certainty about what exactly happened here, which may be what makes it worth the detour.