Kilmalkedar - Bullaun Stone | Kilmalkedar - Oratory |
Kilmalkedar - Bullaun Stone | Kilmalkedar Cross - Cross |
Kilmalkedar Ogham Stone - Ogham Stone |
Sometimes I want to scream at people, but I contain it and continue on my way. While we were here there was a tour of American ladies being taken around by a local man who obviously thought he owned the place. There were many other people here independantly who wished to see this lovely site and this annoying man just would not move out of the way to allow others to see it.
Anyway eventually we were able to look around properly. The church is in good condition, but lacks a roof. The points of the gable walls are home to a cross and a bird or similar figure. The door is a nice romanesque with a plain tympanum over it. The chancel arch is also finely decorated in the romanesque style with zig-zags and lozenges.
Next to the chancel arch, cemented into the floor, is the Alpabet Stone. This original had the letters DNI carved in it, but later had the rest of the alphabet added and may have been used for instruction.
Just inside the churchyard (if you enter from the path and not the road gate) is a very nice sundial. This has a flower-like pattern carved on the rear and just three 'time markings' on the front. Two of these are made of two parallel lines and the third, strangely, has three. Presumably whatever this this one signalled was more important than whatever the first two signify.
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______When I arrived today there was a solitary car parked by the gate. There are some advantages to going out when it's raining. This can be a very busy place.
I had come here to look for the nearby bullaun stones and the oratory. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get to them, because they're well outside the main compound and I'd never seen signposts for them. I could see that one side of the church was covered by scaffolding, so I took a closer look at the church. It looks as if there is some restoration/preservation work being undertaken at the moment.
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This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |