Keeill Crore (Knockaloe)

Keeill site at Knockaloe near Peel, dedicated to the obscure St Crore (?). DOUBLE SIGNIFICANCE: The Knockaloe area was later the site of a MASSIVE WWI internment camp holding 23,000+ prisoners 1914-1918. WHY THIS IS EXCEPTIONAL: Two completely different archaeological periods in one area. (1) Early Christian keeill with centuries of worship activity. (2) WWI internment camp covering 23 acres — one of the largest in the British Isles. 23,000 men over 4 years = enormous potential for lost personal items, camp tokens, buttons, badges. The camp was dismantled after the war and the fields returned to agriculture, but the archaeological material remains underground.