On a recent day out we visited St James Church, Castledermot, Co. Kildare.
The original foundation and dedication of this Christian Church was as the hermitage of St. Diarmada [Dermot] in 812. In later years it became a monastery and was twice raided by the Vikings and was burned down in 1106.
In the present church, now dedicated to St James, there is a list of The Church of Ireland incumbents dating from 1605 to the present day.
In the foreground is a reconstructed Hibernian-Romanesque arch detailing the original entrance to the old church.
An artists impression of what the original hermitage may have looked like.
The only Scandinavian hog back grave marker slab in Ireland - beneath which is possibly
a sleeping Viking.
One of two existing 9th century High Crosses,
there were once three.
Opposite the entrance to the church is a well kept and attractive tree lined walkway
connecting to a main thoroughfare.
The Pledging Stone.
Similar stones were used by lovers who would place their hands into the hole
and make their pledge to each other.
From this practice came about the phrase ‘being set in stone’.
The round tower dates to the 10th century and was the monastery bell tower.
The tower has some unusual features to other similar constructions. Here the entrance is only slightly above ground level and it is situated to the north of the church, normally towers were built to the west with access 15 feet or more above the ground.
There are two arched vaults inside the tower, one over the second storey and the other at the top, with the tower itself constructed mainly of granite blocks with small pieces of limestone used as fillers.
At sometime during it’s history the original stone capping was removed from the top and replaced with a castellated top which looks very odd - I have heard it likened to that of an electric torch stood on it’s end!
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