Wednesday 8 February 2023

1686 Informal Chest Tomb Figures and Saint Scire, Kilskyre, Meath.

Saint Scire and Kilskyre 1686 Chest Tomb

I'm unsure what to call Kilskyre. It's also called Kilskeer however its status I don't know.

Is it a village, is it a townland, is it merely a small hamlet?

There is a modern Church here and a small scattering of domestic dwellings and farmhouses but it's a small place nonetheless.

I came across this location purely by chance.

I passed a restored Holy Well by the roadside dedicated to a Saint Scire who I had never heard tell of.

There were at one time three Holy Wells recorded in this area.

This particular Well was restored in 2008 by the local community.

Spotting some ruinous looking walls nearby I subsequently headed for there and passed through farm gates and a field after checking with the farmer who was working nearby.

There is a ruined Church here with very little of the original structure remaining. It was possibly in use until as late as the 1700's but is now almost completely destroyed.

The site is believed to have previously housed an entire monastic settlement and a Round Tower and was probably quite extensive at one point in time.

A Geophysical survey was completed in 2006 which helped identify several features.

Saint Scire is accredited with founding a settlement here some time in the 6th century and her feast day is believed to be March 24th.

Schiria is believed to have been her actual name. I can't say I have heard this name in usage before and it seems to be an unusual one, certainly for Ireland.

Kilskrye can thus be interpreted as the Church of Saint Schiria.

I believe there may be a wayside Cross located nearby however I didn't spot it on my travels.

What is most impressive here at Kilskyre is the O'Reilly Plunkett Chest Tomb.

This tomb dating from 1686 has some wonderfully beautiful carvings surrounding it.

Their beauty lies in their informal simplicity when held in comparison to the more rigid and structured figures and weepers that can often surround Chest Tombs.

They are really interesting and quite delightful to view firsthand.

Knowing nothing about this site it was nice to stumble across them and find out a little about the history of Saint Schiria who was reputedly a direct descendant of Niall of the Nine hostages.

I have included a few photographs of these figures and of the Plunkett and O'Reilly family armorial plaques which are also carved in the same informal manner.

The figures surrounding the Chest Tomb appear to be a clothed male in Orans posture, a female figure in some type of dress with her hands across her torso, a semi clad male kneeling and again in an Orans type posture.

Lastly there is a skull and crossbones Memento Mori alongside an Angel at the top of the Headstone.

It is possible that Hugh O'Reilly may have been related to the fenian John Boyle O'Reilly who centuries later would escape a penal colony on Australia in a ship which sailed from America as both were from Meath.

It is also possible that Catherine Plunkett may have been a distant relative of Saint Oliver Plunkett but both of these suggestions are merely speculation on my part.

I have no information of a direct connection other than the locale and the fact that both Catherine and Hugh were presumably minor Irish aristocracy.

Kilskyre was obviously a wealthy and flourishing site as it was reputedly plundered by both the Vikings sometime in the 900's and again in 1170 by that perennial bogeyman of Irish history, Dermot MacMurrough

(Diarmaid MacMurchada).

Dermot is remembered chiefly for imploring Henry II to help him regain his lands and titles thus setting the stage for the eventual Norman conquest of Ireland.

It may actually have been Pope Adrian IV's issuance of the Laudabiliter Papal Bull to Henry II which probably initiated or certainly provided a divine pretext for the subsequent Anglo Norman conquest of Ireland.