Kilteel Abbey in Co. Kildare was on Helen and Ernie O’Malley’s list of over 200 Irish archaeological and monastic sites that they eventually documented. After Ernie’s death in 1957, Helen revisited Kilteel and recorded many of the sculptural images she photographed decades beforehand. Parts of the original church arch were found in a local stream and reinstated around 1935. Over the years, Helen took many shots of this elaborately carved head of a kingly bearded man. In subsequent years, the elements have nearly obliterated this beautiful historic carving. Helen and Ernie O’Malley recorded many sites that no longer exist or have suffered over time.
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