Yesterday our friends Petra and Donal took us off on a magical mystery tour.

They told they were taking us to a place a few miles west of Cahir in Tipperary and that was all.

We ended up driving up a narrow country bohereen and parking outside a gate which had a “No Parking” sign. No indication whatsoever that there was a national monument a few fields away.
(It’s Ok said Petra the owner told me I could park here anytime.)

We then walked a couple of hundred yards across a bog and ended in one the most bizarre national monuments in Ireland,
St. Berriherts Kyle.

The church site, which disappeared from all records until it was rediscovered in 1907, is a combination of early christian church, a vast amount (over 50 according to Killanin) of early Christian Grave stones and the remains of two early carved high crosses.

The OPW in an effort of conservation have put these stone artifacts into a rough church shape which is the way they stand today.

There is a large holly tree at the edge of this “church” which is decorated with rags, ribbons, rosary beads and various pieces of clothing which always speaks to me of a veneration which pre-dates christianity.

A couple of hundred yards further along bog walkway brings us to St Berriherts Well.

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This is even more surprising, as it is really a little geyser or series of geysers which bubble erratically into a beautiful clear pool giving the area a feeling of being in an old holy place

While walking around the site Donal saw a beautifully made rush cross thrown casually into a nearby stream.
Apparently the place has never been excavated so very little is known of St. Berrihert other than that he was a 7th Century Anglo Saxon Saint.

A little bit further back towards Cahir Sile and I remembered a little church at the foot of tha Galtees which we had visited years before.

When we found this, St Peakaun’s Church ,we found a full scale excavation being carried out by the Archeological Department of UCC.

The church had the most beautiful carved windows and again about thirty early grave stones around it.

This part of Tipperary is a bit of a goldmine for Archaeology and I am sure that the mysteries of St Berriherts Kyle will soon be investigated.