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Killegar Church
 

County

Wicklow

Coordinates

N 53° 12' 20.82"   W 006° 10' 57.24"

Nearest town

Enniskerry

Grid Ref.

O 21409 18805

Map No.

56

Elevation a.s.l. (m)

154

Date of visit

Saturday 2 June 2018

GPS Accuracy (m)

3
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The upper part of the second Viking slab has a hollow and a concentric circles set, with radial lines departing from the outermost circle, like sun rays.


We tried a few times in the past to reach this old and ruinous church, but we always failed, due to bad weather, lack of time or the impossibility to locate someone who could grant us the permission to walk to it.
This time we succeded and it was really worth it.

The small church is in an old graveyard off the R117 north of Enniskerry. Not much remains of the building, only two poor sections of the north and south walls, both long about 6.50 metres. However I love the masonry of this church, using small rounded stones. It might remind me of the church in Agha.

The church itself hasn't much to be noticed for, except its dimensions. On the ground, the outline of the original building can be still made out, and judging by it, the church was 20 metres long and 5.20 metres wide.
What makes the visit to this church interesting is the presence of three grave slabs with Viking carved motifs. Similar slabs can be seen at Tully church, St. Begnet's church and Kilgobbin church.
These three slabs lean against the north wall of the old church.
The first one has a circular hollow in the middle of its surface. Around it a series of concentric circles departs. Above them is a simply incised cross with a smaller hollow at the intersection of the arms. It measures 64 centimetres of height and 31 centimetres of width.
The second slab has a circular hollow at the bottom with concentric circles around it. The set of circles look like enclosed into a geometric frame. The upper part of the slab has another hollow and a concentric circles set, with radial lines departing from the outermost circle, like sun rays. This slab is 78.5 centimetres high and 36 centimetres wide.
The third slab is the most Christian of the three. It has a Latin cross in bas-relief, with circular hollows at each terminal and at the intersection of the arms. Circular patterns fill the space around the cross. This slab measures 94 centimetres of height and 40.5 centimetres of width.

Between the first and the second cross is a stone roughly cut in the shape of a cross, 44 centimetres high and 18 centimetres wide, and between the second and the third cross is a slab with a simple incised cross, 41.5 centimetres high and 27 centimetres wide.

Another interesting item to be found at this site is the head of a Tau Cross. It's been set on a round stone serving as a base. A hand-written text is on the base, "The remains of a Tau Cross at Killegar". This small Tau Cross is at the west end of the section of the north wall. It measures 43 centimetres of width at the arms, is 22.5 centimetres high and 12.5 centimetres thick.

The church is aligned to the east (90°).

Set into the masonry of the church there are a few quartzite stones.


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