Historic SiteCounty KerryOPW Heritage Ireland4.6
Free for everyone; an open-air monument with no staff, tickets or booking. No membership card is needed.
Arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport.
OPW names no car park and gives no directions; a reviewer describes parking by the road for about three cars at the church, with more up the small road beside the churchyard wall. The church is on the R559 about 8.6 km from Dingle and 5 km east of Baile an Fheirtéaraigh; OPW names no bus service.
Driving pin: the churchyard entrance on the road side, 49 m from OPW's own pin on the church.
Kilmalkedar is an early Christian and medieval ecclesiastical complex five kilometres east of Baile an Fheirtéaraigh in the Gaeltacht of the Dingle Peninsula, overlooking Smerwick Harbour. Covering more than ten acres, it is named in honour of its founder St Maolcethair, who died in AD 636, and is commonly associated with St Brendan the Navigator, for it lies on Cosán na Naomh, the ancient pilgrim path to Mount Brandon. The early Christian period is shown by the ogham stone of about AD 600, the sundial pillar and the alphabet stone. The Romanesque church was built shortly after 1134 and shares features with Cormac's Chapel at Cashel: the tympanum over the round-headed west doorway, whose jambs end in carved animal-head stops, blind arcading in the nave and common ornamental motifs; the nave still stands to its original height. A stone cross stands on the path to the door. The church is free, unstaffed and open at all hours, with a few roadside spaces.
An unguided open-air national monument in OPW's care with no published hours, no staff and no facilities. OPW warns that care and caution should be kept throughout a visit to its unguided sites.
The graveyard is still in use, with uneven ground and a stone path; take care around the graves and the ogham stone. A path climbs the hill behind the church, and an alpaca lives next door.
Dogs: Dogs are not allowed on Cosán na Naomh, the pilgrim path that passes the church.
Photo: The stone path to Kilmalkedar's Romanesque west front, flanked by the ogham stone and a stone cross among the graves, under a clear blue sky. Robashaw, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kilmalkedar_Cross,_Ogham_and_Church.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Not suitable for dogs
A 17.7 km linear pilgrim path, moderate, about five and a half hours with 400 m of ascent, yellow arrows on black, from Ventry beach past Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar and over Reenconnell to the foot of Mount Brandon; free; dogs not allowed.
