Kilree
Kilree ( Irish Cill Rí ) is a townland in County Kilkenny in Ireland with the ruins of an early Christian monastery. The name probably comes from Cill Ruidhche (after St. Ruidhche, a female saint). Kilree is about 15 km south of the city of Kilkenny on a small country road. There is a cemetery here that is still in use today.
Attractions
Round tower
At the edge of the cemetery is a well-preserved round tower , which probably dates from the 11th century. The cemetery is separated from a meadow about 1 m below by a small wall. The foundation of the tower can be seen well on the meadow side: 2 round rows of stones are placed on an almost square base, above which the actual structure begins. This type of base only occurs in the round tower of Aghaviller a few kilometers to the south-west .
The structure has a height of 26.8 m with a diameter above the ground of 4.9 m. The door opening starts at 1.6 m.
Above the doorway there are three rectangular windows on the following floors, the first probably having a triangular point towards the outside.
The four windows below the roof, which are almost always common in round towers, are also rectangular. The conical tip typical of most of the preserved round towers was replaced by battlements in the late Middle Ages .
The tower is built from local limestone; only the doorway and the windows are made of sandstone. The lintel consists of a monolithic block with a hewn round arch. Today it has a crack.
Hochkreuz
In a meadow 60 m southwest of the round tower there is a 2.15 m high high cross made of sandstone, which probably dates from the 9th century. It lacks the roof that is common on many high crosses , but it has a peg at the top which could have been used to fasten such a roof . The cross is mainly decorated with geometric motifs, but there are also heavily weathered figurative representations. Their exact interpretation is not clear because of the poor condition.
Church ruin
The church was built in 2 sections. In the 9th / 10th In the 16th century, the original 8.6 × 5.7 m building that later became the nave . In a further phase, probably in the 12th century, the choir was added on the east side. It was 9.9 × 5.8 m in size. Further renovations then took place in the late Middle Ages. Later the church fell into ruin.
literature
- Brian Lalor: The Irish Round Tower: origins and architecture explored Collins Press 1999. ISBN 1-898256-64-0
- Tadhg O'Keeffe: Ireland's round towers: buildings, rituals and landscapes of the early Irish church 2004. ISBN 0-7524-2571-4
- Peter Harbison : Guide to the National Monuments in the Republic of Ireland Gill and Macmillan, Dublin 1970 ISBN 0-7171-0275-0 p. 137
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Name in Irish. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
- ↑ http://webgis.archaeology.ie/historicenvironment/ SMR: KK027-044003-. Name origin. Retrieved December 21, 2018
- ^ Peter Harbinson: Guide to National and Historic Monuments in Ireland. 204. Gill and Macmillan 1992 ISBN 0-7171-1956-4