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Kilree

Location
(52°31′6″N, 7°16′44″W)
Kilree
S 49 41
pre-1974 traditional (Republic of Ireland) Kilkenny
now Kilkenny
  • Tessa Garton

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Description

An Early monastic site with a ruined nave and chancel church, a round tower and small high cross, within a walled enclosure. The nave is pre-Romanesque, with a flat-headed W doorway and antae; the chancel is a later addition, of the same width as the nave. The chancel arch, with plain square mouldings around the arch and jambs, has been reduced in size by a later rough stone infill. The round tower has a plain, round-headed doorway.

History

There was an early monastery on this site attributed to St Brigid (Gwynn and Hadcock, 1970). The church was gifted by the Dean and Chapter of Ossory to Kells priory in 1259.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Windows

Interior Features

Interior Decoration

Miscellaneous

Loose Sculpture

Comments/Opinions

The loose jamb-stone and the reused fragments in the E windows are clearly related and appear to come from a 12thc. doorway and possibly also a window. The two head corbels, although too damaged for detailed analysis, are probably also 12thc.

Bibliography
W. Carrigan, The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory (Dublin, 1905), iv, 45-6.
A. Gwynn and R. N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, Ireland (London 1970), 395.
M. Phelan, 'Kilree', Old Kilkenny Review, 25 (1973), 16-28.