Church Island (Valentia Harbour) Explained

Church Island

Native Name:

Oileán an Teampaill^[1]

Native Name Lang:

Established:

7th century AD

Disestablished:

before 1100

Diocese:

Status:

ruined

Style:

Location:

Coordinates:

Map Type:

Ireland

Public Access:

yes

Embedded:

Embed:	yes
Designation2:	National Monument of Ireland
Designation2 Offname:	Church Island (Valentia Harbour) Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Site^[2]
Designation2 Number:	59

Church Island is a medieval Christian monastery and National Monument located in Valentia Harbour, Ireland. ^[3]

Location

Church Island is located on a 1-acre (0.4 ha) island in Valentia Harbour, immediately west of Beginish, 1.4km (00.9miles) north of Knightstown.^[4]

The island was anciently a centre for iron smelting.

The monastery was established in the 7th century AD.^[5]

Excavations by M. J. O'Kelly in 1955–56 turned up the remnants of a wooden oratory and a cross inscribed with Ogham.^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] It also gave evidence of the diet of the monks: cod, ballan wrasse, oats, barley, gannet, shag, cormorant, goose, duck, beef, mutton, pork, goat meat, horsemeat and seal.^[10]

Contains the remains of a stone oratory, clochán (possibly a hospitium),^[11] and holy well.

Web site: Oileán an Teampaill/Church Island. Logainm.ie.
Web site: National Monuments in State Care: Ownership & Guardianship . 4 March 2009 . National Monuments Service . Ireland . 12 May 2021 .
25507048. Church Island, Valentia Harbour, Co. Kerry. P. J.. Lynch. 8 March 2018. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 10. 2. 155–160.
Web site: Church Island, Valentia Harbour, Valentia Island - GoKerry. GoKerry.ie. www.gokerry.ie.
Book: Ireland, Royal Society of Antiquaries of. Journal. Church Island valentia.. 1901. Internet Archive.
Web site: The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 8 March 2018. The Society. Google Books.
Book: Hendroff, Adrian. Killarney to Valentia Island – The Iveragh Peninsula: A Walking Guide. 30 March 2015. The Collins Press. 9781848895522. Google Books.
Web site: Church island, valencia harbour, County Kerry. www.earlychristianireland.net.
Web site: Church Island Monastic Settlement, Valentia Harbour, Kerry, Ireland – Things to See and Do - Activeme.ie. Activeme.ie. www.activeme.ie.
Web site: The unknown Kerry beauty of Church Island laying low to the surrounding Lough Kay. 20 November 2017.
Book: Addleshaw, George William Outram. The Pastoral Structure of the Celtic Church in Northern Britain. 8 March 1973. Borthwick Publications. 9780900701375. Google Books.