What is recorded here

Half a mile above the bay, a cross-cut slab leans into the hillside like a knife thrown by an angry god. The Glen stretches below, white water hissing through rock, while the Skelligs sit motionless on the horizon. St Buonia may have prayed there before Patrick walked England, or she may have been invented later to give the stones a name. Either way the cross still points downward, carving the mountain into before and after.

KE088-027004- is located on a fairly steep, S facing slope of Knocknaskereighta mountain, towards the head of a broad valley which is locally known as ‘The Glen’. It affords excellent views to St Finan’s Bay and the Skelligs at W. The site is associated with St Buonia (Beoanigh), who is locally reputed to have been a sister of St Patrick. It has also been suggested that the site was founded by St Brendan or by St Beoanus, his disciple (O’Donoghue 1893, 280-3). Permission to survey the site was refused, and the following description is based on summary notes and the accounts published of it by Lynch (1902a) and Henry (1957). Gable-Shrine (KE088-027008-): Located just W of the leacht (KE088-027009-), this shrine is formed of two inwardly inclining rectangular slabs and one remaining triangular end-stone. The W end-stone (KE088-027005-) features a smoothly cut circular perforation, .15m in diameter, near at its base. Above this is a deeply incised Latin cross. The shrine is locally referred to as ‘The Priest’s Grave’. See attached photograph courtesy of Amanda Clarke The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 954. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 July 2013

Probably dates to the early Christian period, given its form as a cross-slab. It may have served a commemorative or waymarking function, possibly associated with local monastic or pilgrimage routes.

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