Inishmore, Aran Islands
Today we visited Inishmore, largest of the Aran Islands off the Galway coast of Ireland. These islands are some of the most barren inhabited places in the world. When the first settlers arrived there was not even soil in which to plant and the islanders created soil themselves using seaweed and windblown dust recovered from cracks in the limestone. This Carboniferous limestone is nearly horizontally stratified and makes up the entire mass of the islands. Blocks of the limestone which are everywhere on the surface have been used to create the 7,000 miles of stone walls which divide the small fields which now cover the islands. On Inishmore the limestone blocks were also used by the Iron Age inhabitants to build a number of fortifications, the largest of which, Dun Aengus (Fort Angus), sits atop the highest cliffs on the island, which drop 300 feet to the crashing surf below. Certainly quite impenetrable, the fort has two thick ramparts in front of which are fields of chevaux de frise—blocks of irregular limestone propped together to slow the passage of attacking forces and provide a significant advantage to the fort’s defenders. Walking around the Dun and looking north across Galway Bay to the hills of Connemara one tries to imagine the thoughts of these Celtic chiefs 2,000 years ago which stimulated the construction of such a massive defensive structure on this barren landscape. Why would anyone want to attack? Why did they come to Aran in the first place? To answer these questions one must try to think as they did. Islands were places where they could be relatively safe from surprise attack. From Dun Aengus they could see for miles in all directions across land and sea. Whatever they had of value, including their own lives, would be well protected.
Driving around Inishmore, we delighted in our Irish-speaking Aran guides. Aran is one of the Gaelic-speaking regions of western Ireland where students from all over the country come in the summer to learn the language of their forebears.
We returned to Endeavour for lunch and the short passage to the Cliffs of Moher. The afternoon sun beautifully lighted these legendary cliffs. Guillemots and kittiwakes flew down from their cliffside nests to feed in the rich waters of Galway Bay.
Today we visited Inishmore, largest of the Aran Islands off the Galway coast of Ireland. These islands are some of the most barren inhabited places in the world. When the first settlers arrived there was not even soil in which to plant and the islanders created soil themselves using seaweed and windblown dust recovered from cracks in the limestone. This Carboniferous limestone is nearly horizontally stratified and makes up the entire mass of the islands. Blocks of the limestone which are everywhere on the surface have been used to create the 7,000 miles of stone walls which divide the small fields which now cover the islands. On Inishmore the limestone blocks were also used by the Iron Age inhabitants to build a number of fortifications, the largest of which, Dun Aengus (Fort Angus), sits atop the highest cliffs on the island, which drop 300 feet to the crashing surf below. Certainly quite impenetrable, the fort has two thick ramparts in front of which are fields of chevaux de frise—blocks of irregular limestone propped together to slow the passage of attacking forces and provide a significant advantage to the fort’s defenders. Walking around the Dun and looking north across Galway Bay to the hills of Connemara one tries to imagine the thoughts of these Celtic chiefs 2,000 years ago which stimulated the construction of such a massive defensive structure on this barren landscape. Why would anyone want to attack? Why did they come to Aran in the first place? To answer these questions one must try to think as they did. Islands were places where they could be relatively safe from surprise attack. From Dun Aengus they could see for miles in all directions across land and sea. Whatever they had of value, including their own lives, would be well protected.
Driving around Inishmore, we delighted in our Irish-speaking Aran guides. Aran is one of the Gaelic-speaking regions of western Ireland where students from all over the country come in the summer to learn the language of their forebears.
We returned to Endeavour for lunch and the short passage to the Cliffs of Moher. The afternoon sun beautifully lighted these legendary cliffs. Guillemots and kittiwakes flew down from their cliffside nests to feed in the rich waters of Galway Bay.
