[Cross and Ogham pillar stone, Kilmalkedar]

On the left, a cross carved from a single piece of stone, with raised panel on the shaft. On the right, a standing stone with Ogham inscriptions. <br>Kilmalkedar (Cill Maoilchéadair) is referred to in the text as Killmachedor. The Early Christian and Medieval ecclesiastical complex which the author describes lies at the foot of the western slopes of Reenconnell hill, overlooking Smerwick Harbour. Chatterton neither mentions nor depicts the hole ‘of dice-box shape’ (Macalister) pierced through the upper part of the ogham stone. <br>Sources: <br>Archaeological Survey of Ireland, at http://webgis.archaeology.ie/NationalMonuments/FlexViewer/, records KE042-026006-, KE042-026001-. <br>Judith Cuppage (ed.), <em>Archaeological Survey of the DIngle Peninsula </em>(Ballyferriter: Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne, 1986). <br>R.A.S. Macalister, <em>Corpus inscriptionum insularum celticarum</em>, Vol. 1 (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1945), record 180-1. <br> <em>Ogham in 3D</em>, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, https://ogham.celt.dias.ie.

Image Details

Genre Scientific or Technical illustration
Technique Woodcuts
Subject(s) Antiquities and archaeological sites
Geographical Location
  • Kerry – County
  • Kilmalkedar – Named locality – Church and churchyard. (Spelling in Henrietta Chatterton, <em>Rambles in the South of Ireland</em> is Killmachedor.)
  • Munster – Province
Keyword(s) Antiquities, Archaeological sites, Crosses, Inscriptions, Stelae
Colour Monochrome
Published / created

Bibliographical Details

Travel Account Rambles in the South of Ireland
Contributor(s)
Print or manuscript Print
Location of image in copy Vol. 1, p. 156
Source copy James Hardiman Library, National University of Ireland Galway Special Collections: 914.190481 CHA
Permalink https://ttce.universityofgalway.ie/irelandillustrated/view/image/ii_image_1368913298
Rights James Hardiman Library

Related text from travel account

The burial ground [at Kilmalkedar] contains many most curious remains of old grave-stones, quaintly carved and rudely shaped, and evidently belonging to various ages, from the old pillar stone engraved with the incomprehensible Ogham character, to the modern head-stone. The varieties of forms and inscriptions are too numerous to describe, but I have selected from my sketches two of the most remarkable, which will be found on the other side. The cross is cut out of one block of stone, and is nine and a half feet high, and measures from one extreme of the arms to the other about four feet. The pillar inscribed with the Ogham grooves, or knotches, has a hole perforated through the top. [Vol. 1, p. 155]
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