Geraldine et al, I've seen a few references to Kilskeer recently, and I thought there might be some interest in the history of the place. By the way, the Irish name for Kilskeer is "Cill Sci/re" (the virgule is sometimes used to show a fada on the previous vowel - when RTF or HTML is not properly represented, as on Rootsweb text-only lists). The "i" with fada would be pronounced as "ee" in English, so I have no idea where the previously-mentioned Killskyre variant arose. But back to history (I'm doing this in my cool cellar, while the heat rages outside - hence this marginally OT posting). The name goes back to the virgin Schiria of Kill-Schire, in the time of St. Colmcille. It was perhaps a double monastery of men and women, but from the eighth century only men are recorded as abbots, etc. The church was plundered by Gothfrith and the foreigners of Dublin in 951. The army of MacMurrough with his knights from England burned Cill-Scire and other places in 1170. The church was later parochial. All of the stuff in this paragraph (except the cellar part <g>) is from Gwynn & Hadcock's "Medieval Religious Houses - Ireland". I've spared you all the references, etc. G&H state that "remains exist", but do not guarantee that the ruins are original. >From the recent "Archaeological Inventory of County Meath", much of the G&H material is repeated (but the authors think the Vikings hurried-up and arrived in 950 vs. 951.......maybe due to the "date of Easter" controversy <g>). They do refer to the "overgrown remains of church probably medieval. Monument to Hugh O'Reilly, dated 1686, to E. of church." When I was there in Sept. 2000, I did find a fine medieval tomb - which may or may not be the one mentioned above. I tend to think it was a bit earlier, but perhaps not. After clearing away the brambles, grass and nettles (and a bit of minor dirt removal), I found two "weepers" along the base of the tomb (carved figures, perhaps representing mourners) to go with the pair of nice armorial-type plaques on the wall above the tomb. All in all, a wonderful discovery. I only get one or two of those per trip to Ireland, usually. It's still hot outside, I'm listening to RTE live from Ireland now (5-7 Live) on the computer......but I won't bore you with any more of this. Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts