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Kerrowkeil Keeill

Archaeology

The site of an Early Medieval chapel or keeill, thought to have been in use between AD 500 and AD 1000. Two large stone pillars formerly standing in front of the doorway are now in the museum. A cross slab (No 28) and a  pre-Viking cross  were also found here. The site is grass covered and no visible trace of a chapel or burial ground enclosure remains. 


The remains of the keeill and its burial ground were destroyed by ploughing in 1873, and when the Rev. E.B. Savage visited the site about 1885 he was able to interview those who remembered the keeill prior to its destruction. It had stood on a mound, which Savage supposed was a tumulus, and had been surrounded by a burial-ground within a 'ring of stones' about 10 metres distant from the keeill. 


The cross slab was taken from the Keeill-site in 1893, although its exact find-spot is unknown. It is now kept at Malew parish church. The two stone pillars were more likely to have been supporting stones at the external angles of the building, rather than 'door posts'. There were no remains to mark the site or any conspicuous stones in the adjacent field-boundary when J.R. Bruce visited the site in 1963.


A stone 'stoup' now built into a wall of Kerrowmoar farm, and another stone outside the present Kerrowkeil Chapel, are reputed to have come from the keeill-site.

Connections

Book Chapters

  • Parish: Malew
  • Sheading: Rushen
  • Grid Ref: SC2604074070

Sources

  • Isle of Man Heritage Environment Record
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