Kilteel (Irish: Cill Chéile) is the name of a village, townland and civil parish located in the barony of South Salt, County Kildare, Ireland.

The townland of Kilteel Upper contains the remains of a church with a decorated Romanesque chancel arch, the ruins of a 13th-century preceptory of the Knights Hospitaller and a well-preserved 15th-century tower house.

The historic settlement is located on the southwest corner of the English Pale and served an important function as a border fortress during the medieval period.

The Record of Monuments and Places suggests that a prehistoric barrow on a hilltop within Kilteel Wood, northwest of the modern village functioned as an inauguration site.

[12][15] In the Early Medieval period the adjacent centre of Rathmore was a stronghold of the Meic Bráenáin, a branch of the Fothairt Airthir Life.

[25] A ruined church southwest of the village contains the highly decorated remains of a Romanesque chancel arch or doorway.

The 12th-century High Cross to the north may mark the site of the Romanesque church, possibly built under the patronage of Diarmait Mac Murchada, whose mother was of the Meic Bráenáin.

[37] In the medieval period, Kilteel served as a border fortress on the marches of the English Pale, under attack from the Gaelic O'Byrne and O'Toole families of Wicklow.

In 1355 Edward III issued letters requiring those appointed for the defence of the marches to take up their duties in the wards of Kilteel, Rathmore and Ballymore, noting the 'depredations and burnings of Obryn and his accomplices' .

[39] An act of 1494-5 required the boundary to consist of 'a double ditch of six feet high above the ground at one side or part which mireth next unto Irishman '.

[40] A portion of the Pale boundary with traces of a possible earthen bastion is visible in aerial photographs southeast of the medieval church.

[41][42] Archaeological excavations suggest the denuded remains continue east, forming the boundary between the townlands of Kilteel Upper and Cupidstown.

[45] An 1833 depiction of the castle in the Dublin Penny Journal shows a steeply gabled house adjoining the gatehouse, possibly of late 17th or early 18th-century date.

[37] The archives of Trinity College Dublin contain an undated drawing from the Edwin Rae Collection depicting a similar building.

In 1536 John Alen, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was granted the dissolved monastery of St. Wolstans and his brother Thomas, Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper, was granted the dissolved preceptory of Kilteel in 1539; a lease of 12 July 1539 describes Thomas Alen and his wife Mary as "of Kilheele".

[50][51] The status of the area as a disputed marchland is highlighted in an early grant: "in consideration that the Preceptory, lordship or manor of Kilheale, in Kildare county, is situated in the marches thereof near the Irish enemies, the Tholes (O'Tooles), where resistance and defence are required, grant to Thomas Alan and Mary his wife, the said lordship.

"[52]A 1543 lease lists the preceptory's possessions: Lease to Thomas Alen of Kilester, of the manor of Kilheale, Cromwelleston, near Calliaghton, Kilwarnyng, near Castlewarnyng and Kilbride, near "The Three Castles" in the county of Dublin; Johnston, Rathmore, Sherlokeston and the Naas in the county of Kildare; all which came into the hands of the Crowne by the surrender of Sir John Rawson, Viscount Clontarf, late Prior of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem : to hold for 51 years.

The Crown authorities believed that the 11th Earl of Kildare, a longstanding enemy of the Alen family, had colluded in these attacks.

[57][58][59] In November 1580 during the Second Desmond Rebellion the Earl, charged with the defence of the Pale against Fiach McHugh O'Byrne stationed a force of 50 horseman and 100 foot soldiers at Kilteel.

The castle and 'Reading's farm, being part of Kilteele' with 376 plantation acres, were bought by the Hollow Sword Blade Company for £976 on 23 June 1703.

[72] Thomas Cholmondley's holding of 178 plantation acres, 'alias Brians farme', was bought by Joseph Maddock, a Quaker linen draper, in 1703.

[95] A minor confrontation between Free State and Irregular forces took place at Kilteel in 1923 during the Irish Civil War.

The parish presumably contained an earlier Catholic chapel or mass house, though it is possible the churches at Crosschapel and Kilbride, the latter present from 1776, served this purpose.

Royal Irish Constabulary records from 1890 show that Kilteel King O'Tooles club had approximately 30 members.