O'Eeilly-0/^/ Churches of D(dhcij Town ami Idand. V,i^ 



" Not far from the church, on the brink of the Sound, is a well 

 which the old people consider very sacred, and highly efficacious for 

 the cure of sore eyes. One relic of extremely early days may be 

 observed carved or picked out upon the natural undisturbed rock 

 which stands immediately facing the western gable. It is what 

 Bishop Graves styles an ' eastern ' cross, enclosed by a circle, and is 

 probably as early as the sixth or seventh century (see fig. 4). 

 "Within the quadrants are raised pellets. Indeed, the figure is 

 extremely like some found on certain of the oldest remains for which 

 Inismurray and some districts of Kerry are famous. It is the only 

 rock-marking of its interesting class which I have seen out of the 

 West or South of Ireland." 



" The Church of Dalkey (Island), its details, and this cross, are 

 here, so far as I am aware, for the first time figured and described." 



Practically all that was known up to their time concerning the 

 churches of Dalkey Town and Dalkey Island is given in the two 

 citations from Mr. F. E. Ball's work and Wakeman's paper cited by him. 

 This latter may indeed be taken as a text for the further considera- 

 tion of these two remarkable ruins. 



As regards the name of the saint to whom both these churches are 

 said to have been dedicated, I am indebted to Mr. Ball's courtesy for 

 the communication of the following details to be found in the Eeport 

 of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records and Keeper of the State 

 Papers in Ireland (1896). There is given therein an Index to the 

 Calendar of Christ Church deeds, 1174 to 1684, contained in Appen- 

 dices to the 20th, 23rd, and 24th Reports. It gives the following 

 forms of the name *' Dalkei/,^^ and the indications of the mentions of 

 that name in the extracts given in the reports : — 



Dalkey, Dalkaye, Dalkeya, Dalkie, Dalky, Gilbeknith, Killekenet, 

 Kilbekenet, St. Begnetes, St. Begnetts. 



Entries— 51, 219, 379, 381, 2, 413, 415-6, 431, 779, 927, 1145, 

 1303, 1306, 1341, 1346, 1374. 



Dalkey Church— 52-3, 379, 431, 440, 557, 1378. 



Dalkey Churchyard— 1 341. 



In these extracts the Church of Dalkey Town is designated as 

 follows : — 



bl— Circa 1240— Chapel of Kilbekenet. 



52 — ,, ,, — Church of Killekenet. 



53— 16th March, 1245— Church of Kilbek[enet]. 



379— 17th Septr., 1504— The Church of St. Begnet of Dalkey. 



557 — Circa 1320 — A messuage in the tenement of Gilbeknith, 



