Penitential station in Keelhilla

To the N (4m) of ‘St. Mac Duagh’s Church’ (CL006-023001-) amongst hazel forest. Indicated and named ‘Penitential Station’s on the 1842 and 1915 eds. of the OS 6-inch maps. The OS parish namebooks for Keelhilla in 1839 (Placenames database of Ireland) record stations being performed here ‘by the peasantry and a patron [being] held here on the last sunday of the summer’ and locally recorded tradition records an unmarked pilgrimage route from Kilmacduagh to Keelhilla known as ‘St Colman’s Way’ (Kirby 2016). A well-built rectangular drystone structure (L 2.4m; Wth 2.1m; H 1m) with some loose stones on its surface, likely constructed from rubble collapse from the church. In 1836, Westropp (Comber 2003, 36) drew some of the stones on the surface of this, or the second station (CL006-023003-); included among them was a flat stone with narrow fluting which looks like a medieval ingot mould. The second station (CL006-023003-) is located c. 5m S in the interior of the church, a holy well (CL006-023005-) is c. 7m to the NNE and a hermitage/cave known as St Mac Duagh’s bed (CL006-023004-) is c. 25m WSW. The remains may all be contained within an enclosure (CL006-023010-) and a disused graveyard (CL006-023002-) is recorded c. 35m to the SE. The following image has been uploaded: CL006-023009-_01.jpg Penitential station in the right foreground with the second one visible in the background. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin Date of upload: 27 July 2021

Linked to the penitential practices associated with St. Mac Duagh, an early Irish saint known for his asceticism and monastic foundations. The site was historically marked as a place of pilgrimage or ritual observance, likely used for acts of penance within the local Christian tradition.