Cloghane, Kerry

I Location

Site Location
Cloghane
National Grid Reference
20Q 51 12
County
Kerry
Dedication
medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): not confirmed
Type of building/monument
Church (ruin)

II General Description

Ruined church of 13thc. or later medieval date with an early 19thc. tower. Only the E gable and N and S walls of the chancel remain. There is a round-headed E window, and traces of a window in the S wall. There is a doorway in the N wall. There is a rectangular piscina at the E end of the S wall with a roll-moulded surround. A Romanesque carved head is set into what was the interior S wall of the church. Internal width of church 5.85 m. The church is constructed from rubble masonry.

III Exterior Features

4. Other

(i) Carved head

S wall, human head corbel, frontal

S wall, human head corbel, frontal

S wall, human head corbel, from L

S wall, human head corbel, from L

S wall, human head corbel, from R

S wall, human head corbel, from R

Crudely carved head with large eyes and a small mouth, attached to a roughly-carved rounded stone set into the wall. The lower R side of the face is damaged.

Dimensions
h. 0.23 m
w. 0.17 m
d. of head 0.16 m
measureable d. 0.27 m

VII History

Church of ‘Clothan’ is included in Papal Taxation list of 1302-1307 for the diocese of Ardfert. It was still in repair at the Royal Visitation of 1615, but in ruins by the mid-18thc. (Cuppage, 366). The head was stolen in 1993 and subsequently replaced with a replica.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The head is regarded locally as an effigy of Crom Dubh, a pre-Christian god. Rynne (1972) discusses the pagan associations and dates the head to the pre-Christian era. Harbison (1973) points out that the attachment of the head to a stone set in the wall suggests that it was designed for use in a stone building, and is thus unlikely to be pagan. The style of the head seems 12thc., and is similar in general type to those at Tomfinlough, Clare, although it is less finely carved than the best preserved head at Tomfinlough.

IX Bibliography

  • Rynne, E., ‘Celtic Stone Idols in Ireland’, in C.Thomas (ed.), The Iron Age in the Irish Sea Province, CBA Research Report 9, 1972 , 90.
  • P. Harbison, , ‘Some Medieval Sculpture in Kerry’, JKAHS, 6, 1973, 9-25.
  • Cuppage, J., (ed.), ‘Cloghane’, Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula, Ballyferriter, 1986, 366-7, no.986, pl.48, fig.214.
  • Sheehy, M., The Dingle Way and the Saints' Road, 1989, 24.