Derrycunnihy Church is located just after Galways Bridge, about 1km before Ladies View. It used to serve the local area, including the Black Valley, but is now no longer in use.
The rather rare Lesser Horseshoe Bat has a roost in the church, which also happens to be home to a pair of barn owls. No wonder the bats are rare.
Derrycunnihy church was built in the 1870's on the lands of the Earl of Kenmare, and consecrated in 1874. The church was damaged by fire in the 1950's and finally closed in 1960. As an aside, the name in the Earls title comes from Kenmare Castle in Limerick - not the nearby town.
It marks a hiking crossroads of sorts on the Kerry Way. Just across the road, you can follow the route beside the Upper Lake to Lord Brandon's Cottage and onto the Gap of Dunloe. Taking the small roadway beside the church places you around half way on the Old Kenmare Road between Kenmare and Killarney.
Cache is small with a pencil, but maybe best to BYOP. Note that there is zero mobile reception at GZ.
The Church Micro IE series is open to everyone; if you have a church you would like to place a cache at then please contact THE_Chris through Geocaching.com. This is to keep track of the numbers of the churches and give you the general format for the cache page. In the UK there are thousands in the series so we have some catching up to do! Also, if you currently have a published cache at a church that you would like to include in the series, get in contact and we can add it.