Teampall Bheanaín — St. Benignus's Church — is a tiny oratory near the village of Killeany, often claimed to be the smallest church in Ireland. It is probably 8th to 10th century, built of dry-laid limestone, and is largely intact despite its age. The peculiarity that has puzzled archaeologists for years is its orientation: where virtually every early Christian church in Ireland is aligned east-west (altar facing east toward Jerusalem), Teampall Bheanaín runs north-south. No one has produced a fully satisfying explanation.
The church sits on a hillside with views across the southern part of the island. It is small enough that you could walk past it without noticing it, which is part of the point of coming: the scale of these early medieval buildings — made for a handful of monks on a remote limestone island — is humbling in a way that larger ruins rarely are.