Church

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 10001. Illaunloughan/Oileán Lócháin (KE087-036017-) is a small, low-lying island located in Portmagee Channel, c. 120m from the mainland at S and c. 400m WNW of Portmagee (Port Mhic Aoidh) village. The island stands in the civil parish of Killemlagh (Cill Imleach), in the barony of Iveragh (Uíbh Ráthach). Its habitable surface measures a maximum of 26m N-S x 50m E-W, and is c. 0.1ha in area. During certain low tides it can be reached on foot from the mainland. According to Marshall and Walsh (1998, 102) 'There is no historical documentation for the island, and the origin of its name is uncertain. Lochán may be the name of a saint associated with the island, a theory supported by the mention of two Lochans in the Martyrology of Oengus, written c. AD 800 (Stokes 1984, 255, 263) and by the inland location of Killoughane (Cill Lócháin) ecclesiastical site [KE065-058001-] at the eastern end of the Iveragh peninsula (O'Sullivan and Sheehan 1996, 357). Alternatively the island name may be derived from the island of the chaff. Four seasons of archaeological work, carried out from 1992 to 1995, have completed the excavation of about 70 per cent of the island.
The foundations of a drystone oratory (KE087-036008-) overlay a leacht (KE087-036021-) on its N side and was preceded by two sod-built structures, possibly oratories (KE087-036016-), at E. A radiocarbon date of 640-790 AD was derived from a context overlying the clay floor of the stone oratory. Marshall and Walsh (2005) describe it as a diminutive structure. It is built partly upon the E end of the earlier sod (KE087-036016-) oratory and the later, stone built oratory (KE087-036008-) overlies it. It is of uncertain length but only 1.2m wide.
Excavated sod oratory described by Marshall and Walsh (2005, 23-4) as follows; 'Excavation revealed the eastern end of a rectangular structure extending a few metres eastward from the drystone oratory [KE087-036008-], at a lower level. Two parallel trenches (F220 and F225) defined its eastern end, marking out walls that varied from 0.80m to 1.10m wide. The trenches, c. 0.15m deep, still contained a number of thin sandstone slabs. Parallel trenches, 0.34-0.74m apart, indicated sod construction similar to that in Hut A [KE087-036019-], using rows of upright stones to brace the sod wall. The sod walls may have collapsed and needed repair or rebuilding a number of times. Evidence of possible subsidence problems may be seen in the extra trench, which may have been the original inner trench for the southern wall of the sod church. The uprights in this shallower and narrower trench may not have been able to hold the sod walls effectively, and it may have been replaced by a more substantial trench. None of the turf blocks remained, although there was a distinct layer of soil (F224) still present between the trenches and the overlying trench, F231.
The rectangular shape of the structure, its orientation and the presence of five graves to the east of it confirmed that it was an oratory. The sod oratory is earlier than the two successive structures in this area and logically should be contemporary with the building of the round sod huts, but there is no direct dating evidence to confirm this. The lack of direct dating evidence is not critical here, since both the domestic huts and the gable shrine [KE087-036006-] are dated to the same period.
The internal width of the primary oratory is almost identical to that of the later drystone oratory, 2.0m compared to 2.2m, so close that only traces of a stone-lined trench could be discerned beneath the northern walls of the later oratory. A sill stone (F36) found in the interior of the drystone oratory has no association with the threshold of the drystone oratory [KE087-036008-] but appears to have been the threshold of the sod oratory. Based on the sill stone, the internal length of the primary oratory was considerably greater than that of the drystone oratory'.

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 1/1998).

See attached plan of sod oratory taken from Marshall and Walsh 2005, 23 Fig. 18

The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 964. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 30 March 2022

References

O'Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. 1996 The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry. Cork University press.

OSNB - Ordnance Survey Name Books. Pro-forma books arranged by Civil Parish for recording townland and other name-forms and compiled in the course of the OS 6-inch survey 1824-1841. The name books also include minor names and incidental references to antiquities. National Archives of Ireland.

Marshall, J. W. and Walsh, C. 1998 Illaunloughan, Co. Kerry: an island hermitage. In M. Monk and J. Sheehan (eds), Early medieval Munster: archaeology, history and society, 102-11. Cork University Press.

Marshall, J. W. and Walsh, C. 2005 Illaunloughan Island: an early medieval monastery in County Kerry. Bray. Wordwell.

Stokes, W. 1905 The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee. London.