Direction Ireland

Kilmalkedar%20Church

Southwest Ireland | County Kerry

Kilmalkedar Church (Cill Maolcheadair) is located 8 km to the northwest of the town of Dingle (road R559), on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. This twelve-century Romanesque church was built on the site of an early-Christian monastic settlement from the 7th century, founded by St. Malkedar - grandson of the King of Ulster. The church consists of the nave and the chancel with a carved arched passage between them. The nave has decorative stone pillars incorporated into the side walls. There is also 1.2 m high stone attached to the wall which has an inscription of Latin alphabet carved on the one of its sides. The Romanesque doorway has a carved human head on the exterior and a bull or other beast on the interior. The roof was made of corbelled stones, of which not many survived to the present day. Outside the church, opposite the entrance there are three more interesting monuments concentrated close to each other: a large (2.5 m high) stone cross dating from the 7th or 8th century, an early sundial and a holed Ogham stone, on which the inscription translates as "Mael Inbir son of Bocan" (is believed that it could be standing stone with the ogham writing added later, during the early-Christian times).

• OPENING HOURS AND TICKETS :
  • Freely accessible
• CAR PARK :
  • Roadside