Church in Killoe

This site, which is not marked on the OS maps, is located on the lower S slopes of Bentee mountain at the head of the Oghermong river valley. Its situation affords an extensive outlook to W, towards Portmagee Channel. The site consists of the poorly preserved remains of an oratory with a decorated lintel, a bullaun stone, and, formerly, traces of other buildings. Oratory (KE079-087001-): The remains of this rectangular building are located just above a natural scarp, 1.4m high, which is roughly revetted at S with large stones. Only its S sidewall, a portion of its W end-wall, and slight traces of its E end-wall are preserved. These walls are faced horizontally with large slabs which are carefully laid along the slightly corbelled inner face. A number of slabs which cross the SW internal angle are cut to the form of this corner. The walls stand to a maximum height of .95m and average 1.6m in basal width. A short stretch of a .4m wide offset, coped with large slabs laid end-to-end, is preserved on the outer face of the S wall. This is interrupted by traces of the W jamb of a window ope, only two courses of which remain. The N and E wall foundations may be detected by probing. The oratory measured c. 6m E-W x c. 4m N-S internally. The lintelled doorway is located in the W wall and is largely obscured by collapse. It inclines in elevation from the present basal width of .6m to .65m in height. The outer face of its external lintel, now slightly displaced, is decorated with a series of motifs which is dominated by two somewhat irregular, shallow Maltese crosses. Between these, at the centre of the decorated face, are two motifs, one located above the other; the upper is a shallow trapezoid, and below it are two concentric, subcircular rings, formed with grooves. At left, close to the upper edge of the stone, is a subrectangle formed with broad grooves. Near the opposite end of the stone is a plain rectangle formed with broad grooves. Bullaun Stone (KE079-087003-): This small bullaun lies outside the oratory doorway. It was found in the 1930s in a ploughed field nearby (IFC Schools' Collection). Triangular in form, it measures .45m x .28m and features a hemispherical depression, .24m in diameter. Buildings (KE079-087002-): The foundations of buildings, 'probably beehive cells', were noted at the site in the 1930s (OPW). Henry recorded indistinct traces of buildings N of the oratory (1957, 73). No surface trace of these is now apparent. 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. 958. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 July 2013