Kilmore Church (in ruins) — Farranreagh

Medieval parish church ruins of the parish of Valencia (Valentia\Dairbhre\Oak Island) in the Diocese of Ardfert, in the townland of Farranreagh (An Fearann Riabhach), in the barony of Iveragh (Uíbh Ráthach). The fragmentary remains of this church are located in a graveyard (KE079-072----) on the lower NE slopes of Kilbeg, Valencia Island, from which there are impressive views of Valencia Harbour. ‘Darnery’ [Dairbhre] church was included in the Papal Taxation Lists (1302-06) for the diocese of Ardfert (Cal Docs Ire, V, 298). This church may also have been known as 'Kildacom' and variations of that name. It was not noted in the list of churches in the diocese in 1622 (TCD MS 2158, 94), and may have fallen into disrepair before this date. A reference to it in the Book of Survey and Distribution (c. 1650-60), however, seems to imply that it was still in use (Westropp 1912, 289). It was in ruins by the middle of the eighteenth century (Smith 1756, 38). The church is rectangular in plan, measuring 12m x 5.3m internally. Its walls survive to an average height of 1.55m, though in 1841 the side-walls were recorded as standing 11 feet (3.35m) high (OSL). Burials in the immediate vicinity of the church have resulted in a substantial rise in external ground level and in some distortion of its walls. A small portion of the S wall, near the W gable, has collapsed inwardly. The walls are built of roughly faced, split stone masonry with some white quartz facing, and are bonded by a gravelly mortar with marine shell inclusions. Near the W end of the N wall is a breach, c. 2m wide, which may represent the original entrance. The walls average 0.85m thick, though the exception to this is the E gable which is 2.05m in basal thickness and is offset inwardly by 1.1m about 0.7m up from the present external ground level. Church described in 2012 as follows; 'In 1615 the vicarages of Cahir, Kilmore and Kilkenan were valued at £4 and the incumbent was John Calhan (Callaghan?.) (Hickson 1874, 28). Kilmore is further recorded in the Regal Visitation Book of 1633 it is recorded that the incumbent vicar of Kilmore was Donell Ffanning whose ...’wyfe cometh not to Churche’ (ibid 31). By the mid 18th century the rectorial church of Kilmore was in ruins (Smith 1756, 38). In 1815 a new church, glebe house and a glebe of 56 acres were established a little to the N of the ruined medieval foundation with a grant of £500 from the Board of First Fruits (Lewis 1837, 673). Lewis goes on to state that the ..’ruins of the old church are still to be seen in the burial-ground, which is still used as a place of interment by the Catholic inhabitants’ (ibid). Kilmore Church was inspected by Thomas O’Connor in 1841 who stated that the side walls still stood to eleven feet [3.5m] but that the gables were reduced to two feet and were three feet [0.9m] thick (O’Donovan 1983, 163). Very little of the reduced medieval remains are discernible today due to the extent of the grass cover' (Dunne 2012, 3-4). Church and graveyard at 'Kilmore' depicted on the 1598 map of the Island of Dariry (Dairbhre\Valentia) overlooking the 'haven of Beggennis' (Clancarthy Survey) (Murphy 2013;https://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/workspace/handleMediaPlayer?lunaMediaId=LPLIBLPL~17~17~180668~132861) 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. 1091, 355. 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: 28 March 2022