Church, Kilmacreddan, Co. Donegal
In the undulating drumlin landscape of County Donegal, just a short distance from the southern shoreline, lies a site that speaks to Ireland's vanished religious heritage.
Church, Kilmacreddan, Co. Donegal
Kilmacreddan Church once stood here amongst fairly good pasture land, though today no visible trace remains of either the church building or its accompanying graveyard. The site’s complete disappearance is documented in the second edition of the Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps, which show no markings where this ecclesiastical site once served the local community.
The church’s name, Kilmacreddan, follows the typical Irish pattern of ‘Cill’ or ‘Kil’ meaning church, likely indicating this was an early Christian foundation dedicated to a now-obscure saint or religious figure named Macreddan. Such rural church sites were common throughout medieval Ireland, often serving small farming communities and providing both spiritual guidance and burial grounds for generations of local families.
While the physical structures have been lost to time, possibly through agricultural improvements, natural decay, or stone robbing for other building projects, the site remains catalogued in archaeological records. Its inclusion in the Archaeological Survey of County Donegal ensures that even though the stones have vanished, the memory of this sacred place persists as part of the county’s rich tapestry of field antiquities, spanning from the Mesolithic period through to the 17th century.