St. Manchan's Oratory, also called An Teampall Geal ("the bright church") is a medieval oratory and National Monument in County Kerry, Ireland.

Location

St. Manchan's Oratory is located in Ballymorereagh (''An Baile Riabhach''), on the southeast slopes of Lateeve (''Leataoibh'') hill, east-northeast of Dingle.

Description

Church

A boat-shaped oratory similar to that at Gallarus. It stands high and has a finial. A

souterrain ''Souterrain'' (from French ''sous terrain'', meaning "under ground") is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought north ...

(called ''Poll na Sagart'', the priest's hole, based on the common legends that Catholic priests hid in them in the Penal era) and ancient burial ground with cross-inscribed slabs lie nearby. A

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christian or pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualities, through the numinous presence of its guar ...

, Tobermanaghan, lies to the south.

Ogham stone

The

ogham Ogham ( Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langu ...

stone (CIIC 170) stands and reads QENỊLOCI MAQI MAQI-AINIA MUC̣ I/small> ("of Cellach, son of the son of Ania, of the tribe of ..."). Sabine Ziegler placed it in the 5th–7th centuries AD.

References

Religion in County Kerry Archaeological sites in County Kerry National Monuments in County Kerry Former churches in the Republic of Ireland {{Ireland-church-stub