Pagan Holy Site and the Kilmalkedar Church, Ireland

Kilmalkedar Church, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

  Despite how ancient the ruined church of Kilmalkedar may seem, it sits on a pagan burial ground that is 900 years older than the stone church.

The pagan holy spot is marked by an ogham stone, an ancient pillar covered in a Morse code-like ogham text. The language's writing consisted of groups of long and short dashes. It reads “The name of Mael Inbir son of Brocan.” As well as acting as a grave marker, the stone was also a place where the ancient Norsemen could make pacts, with both parties placing their thumbs in the hole drilled in the stone’s top. This stone is thought to have been used from the third to seventh centuries.

Early Medieval graves are also to be found surrounding the church. Over the centuries, the graves have risen up out of the wet Irish soil. In the midst of these graves is an early Christian cross. The cross is oddly proportioned because it has sunk down into the soil.

 The church itself is an example of Irish Romanesque architecture from the 12th century. It blends the traditional architectural style of the Continent with local, Irish flavor. One example of this blended architecture is the front door, which has the classic round arch of the Romanesque period, but the sides slope upward, as was common in pre-Romanesque Irish architecture.  Chevrons (zig-zags) typical of the Romanesque period decorate doorways inside the church. Irish antae, stone projections outside the church that supported the roof beams, once again highlight the combining of architectural styles that occurred in the building of the church.

•  Kilmalkedar. Dublin: Office of Public Works, n.d. Print. Descriptive plaques attached to the church itself.       
• "St Maolcethair/St Malkedar, Kilmalkedar." The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Briton and Ireland. King's College London, n.d. Web. <http%253A%252F%252Fwww.crsbi.ac.uk%252Fsite%252F717%252F>.          
• Steves, Rick, and Pat C. O'Connor. Rick Steves' Ireland. Emeryville, CA: Avalon Travel Pub., 2004. Print.