It is the most westerly of the fifteen stone rows on the Iveragh Peninsula. Stone Rows are three or more standing stones set closely together in a straight line. Kildreelig has four stones.

Archaeology: These are Bronze Age (c.2,200-500 BC) monuments. They probably had a ritualistic purpose, and served as places of assembly for community events (like churches do today). Most examples are aligned on the setting sun at mid-winter, such as Eightercua, but Kilreelig is supposed (by Anne Lynch, a recently retired Senior Archaeologist with the National Monuments Service), to be aligned towards the East on the northern limit of the major lunar standstill.

A major lunar standstill takes place every 18.6 years. This means that the position of the moon in the sky at the North reaches a maximum at moonrise and moonset at this time, before beginning to turn to the South again. Presumably in prehistoric times this would have been regarded as a major event, and would have been marked by ceremonies at places like Kildreelig.

Folklore: said to mark the burial spot of Érannan, one of the Milesian invaders who landed in Ballinskelligs Bay. Carraig Éanna is named after him. Lebor Gabála Érenn records: ‘Érannan, the youngest of the sons of Mil, climbed into the mast, to see how far it was from them to the land. He fell out, and his limbs were scattered about the rocks of the sea … The Sons of Mil came into Ireland in Inber Scene. And Scene, the wife of Amorgen son of Mil, died there; her grave was dug on the estuary, and the grave of Érannan on the other side. She is one of the seven wives of the Sons of Mil.’

Kildreelig School

The school was built in 1899 by the parish priest, Fr Murphy. The Department of Education were opposed to the building of a school here, as they thought there was no need for a school in such a remote area. But Fr Murphy persisted and got the backing of the bishop. Because there was no DoE sanction, the people of the area had to maintain and upkeep the building. This situation continued until 1954. That year the roof lost in a severe storm, and the school had to close. The children were without education from November 1954 to September 1955. It was only then that the DoE gave recognition to the school and the school was repaired with the financial help of the department.

The Teachers:

The first teacher was Ann Fenton from Cúm. She had a great understanding of the weather and on this particular day had foreseen that there was going to be a severe storm, so she sent the pupils home. On her journey home to Cúm she warned people of the impending storm. As she had forecast, a severe thunder and lightning storm happened and a blast of lightning hit the Craitharch on the promontory across the inlet from Kildreelig causing a BLOW HOLE. The blow hole is known as Poll na Toirní (a blow hole descends from the surface to the sea which was undermined the ground below, and jets of water rise high into the eir as a wave surges in). In the past people in the area can recall cows falling into Poll na Toirní, and the animals had to be rescued by boat from the sea.

The second teacher was Jim Shea assisted by Bean Uí Dhrisceoil, teaching sewing.

The third was Brenda Long from Dingle.

The fourth was Patie King from Reenroe (1938-48).

The fifth was Eileen Brown who taught there until 1959.

The sixth was Miss Adams.

The seventh was Mary Francis Ní Bhriain.

The eighth was Annette Healy from Tralee.

The last to teach in the school was Breda Finn.

The school closed on ??? date.