kilmalkedar church

The ancient monastery of Kilmalkedar, founded in the seventh century by St Maolcathair, is one of the foremost Early Christian sites of the Dingle Peninsula. The existing church is a twelfth-century building consisting of a nave to which a chancel was added at a later date, as was the usual practice. Many of the features which typify Irish Romanesque architecture are present. The bold antae with animal-head decoration are well preserved, as is the round-headed doorway with blank tympanum. The high pitched gables (one with finial) survive intact, but of the original barrel-vaulted roof only the merest fragments remain. In the nave is a good example of blind colonnading, recalling Cormac's Chapel at Cashel, with which it is often compared. late-Romanesque geometric motifs adorn the columns of the chancel arch.<