Penitential Stations

In the E end of ‘St. Mac Duagh’s Church’ (CL006-023001-) amongst hazel forest. Indicated and named ‘Penitential Stations’ 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 2.6m; Wth 1.9m; H 0.7m) 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 (CL006-023009-); included among them was a flat stone with narrow fluting which looks like a medieval ingot mould. A second station (CL006-023009-) is located c. 5m N, a holy well (CL006-023005) c. 12m to the NNE and a hermitage/cave known as St Mac Duagh’s bed (CL006-023004-) c. 20m WSW. The remains may all be contained within an enclosure (CL006-023010-) and a disused graveyard (CL006-023002-) is recorded c. 30m to the SE. The following image has been uploaded: CL006-023003-_01.jpg View of penitential station from SW. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin Date of upload: 13 May 2021

Linked to the tradition of penitential pilgrimage associated with St. Mac Duagh, the site was historically marked on Ordnance Survey maps as a place of religious observance. It may have been used by pilgrims undertaking devotional journeys to the saint’s church, reflecting early Christian practices of penance and devotion in Ireland.