Kildrum — An Baile Íochtarach (par. Cill Dromann)

Kildrum church/Teampall Chill Dromann [Church of the ridge]: The site of the parish church of Kildrum [Kendromma] was mentioned in the Papal Taxation List (1302-7) for the diocese of Ardfert (Cal Docs Ire, V, 297) lies in a graveyard (KE043-130001-) on the lower NE slopes of Lateevemore. In 1615 both the 'church and chancel of Kildrome' were in repair (Royal Visitation) but the building was in ruins by 1756 (Smith, 71) and no trace of it remained in 1841 (OSL). The graveyard has been extended and enclosed since the 19th century when it was described as nearly circular and unenclosed (OSNB Kildrum, 33). In 2010 a graveyard survey carried out by Laurence Dunne recorded the following details: 'Kildrum Graveyard is situated on the N side of the Dingle Peninsula 4km NE of Dingle. It is situated on an elevated site at 50m OD on the lower ENE slopes of Leathaoibh with views S over Dingle Harbour and Mount Brandon to the NE. A record from 1615 records that the church at Kildrum was standing ‘The Vicaradges of Garfynnagh and Kildrom, valor £3 both, sequestered to Nicholas Averie, minister, both Church and Chancell upp’ (Hickson 1874, 29). The minister, Mr. Nicholas Averie also had the livings of Stradbally and Ventry (ibid 27). The incumbent minister for Garroonagh and Kildrom was Sigismund Corkeran (ibid 30). In 1756 Charles Smith records that Kildrum Church was in ruins ‘Kildrum, three parts vicarial, the church in ruins. Patron: the Bishop. Proxy 5s’ (Smith 1756, 39). An account of Kildrum by Lewis in 1837 recorded that; ‘The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe,and in the patronage of the Bishop: the rectory is impropriate in Lord Ventry. The tithes amount to £110. 15. 4., of which two-thirds are payable to the impropriator and the remainder to the vicar. There is a glebe of seven acres. The ruins of the old church still remain in the burial-ground’ (Lewis 1837, 88). John O’Donovan, writing in August 1841, recorded that; ‘No part of the walls of the church which bore this name now remains, but its site is pointed out in the graveyard in the townland of Ballyeightragh’ (O’Donovan 1983, 94)'. An interesting account relating to Kildrum by O’Sullivan citing Foley in 1907 recorded; ’It is now nearly one hundred years since the graveyard of Kildrum contained traces of an ancient Christian church in ruins... but owing to people, at hurried interments, occasionally taking stones off its walls, all traces of this church have disappeared. Within this graveyard rest the mortal remains of the holy missionary, Father Herbert, who, in the Irish language, was commonly called An Brathair Rebárdach. Under the pretence of being a wool buyer this friar went amongst the people of the district administering the rites of the Catholic Church, during the darkest days of the penal laws. Here also many interesting monumental headstones and flags are to be found. There are slabs to the memory of two men named Rowland Rice, apparently father and son, one dated 20th April, 1737, and the other, 19th November, 1750’ (O’Sullivan 1931, 398). The old graveyard is studded with around three hundred small unnamed headstones, notched grave markers and cross-slabs that are disposed around the interior. The spatial and density patterning of these gravemarkers most likely reflect the location of the medieval church and also the oval enclosure that is evident on the 1st Ed OS map of 1841. There are no visible, above ground, coherent, remains of the medieval church of Kildrum today. The last record of the visible ruins of the church at Kildrum was in 1837 (Lewis 1837, 88). While Foley maintains that the stones of the church were used during hurried burials. There were no architectural fragments from the church recorded in the course of this survey. This is unusual as generally fragments were reused as burial markers and in the construction of tombs' (Dunne 2010, 3-7). The above description is derived from J. Cuppage (compiler) 'Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey.' Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne (1986), no. 822. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 27 June 2022