Donegal, Ireland
We sailed into the glass sea of Donegal estuary at 6AM. The sun was bright and the promise of another fine day was clear on the horizon. Our morning’s expedition, the low-lying island of Inishmurray (Murray’s Island), was off our port bow. This is normally a notoriously difficult place to land, but today the sea and wind was with us and we made landfall at 9.
We walked the half-mile to the archaeological site along the coast path. Great black back gulls and terms careened overhead, not pleased with our presence in their private kingdom. As we walked the main path to the monastery we passed the empty homes of all those who lived for centuries on this island; the names Brady and Gillespie are visible in the graveyard. Inishmurray had a permanent population until the mid-1950’s when the people petitioned the government to help them leave the island for a better life on the mainland in Sligo. One of the homes still had the remnant of a curtain being beaten by the wind, and I imagined the family saying goodbye to their home. Not an easy thing to do. Bluebells scattered color across the landscape, adding a poignant counterpoint to the ghostly solitude of the abandoned homes.
The enclosed monastery on Inishmurray dates to the late 6th century, when a hermit Saint Muirdeach established himself in this remote place. His reputation for holiness soon spread and disciples joined him. The site we visited today was continuously inhabited from the late 6th through the 12th century. Architecturally it is a time capsule as it has elements of all these transitional periods from the clocháin (the bee hive huts) to the Norman influenced church of the 12th century. Inishmurray contains a number of powerful leacht (an outdoor altar). One in particular also caught the eye of the visitor as it contains the so-called “cursing stones.” These perfectly round stones sitting on top of the altar are turned in a counter clockwise fashion while uttering the most serious imprecations against an enemy. A superb wall about 12 feet high and 10 feet thick surrounds the entire monastery.
After lunch we boarded coaches and set off on a number of different itineraries: one group visited the artisnal tweed mills of the Donegal weavers, another group went on a three mile hike and the last group, of which I was a member, went on the archaeological visit. Our first stop was the neo-lithic “court” tomb of Cloghanmore in Glen Malin. This spectacular tomb (trapezoidal in shape) was begun about five thousand years ago by the first farmers to arrive in Ireland. It is approximately 150 feet long and 60 feet wide. It likely took generations to build and clearly was a very important communal enterprise. It is one of the very few tombs with such antiquity to possess neo-lithic art. On two stones near the entrance, carved into the rock, are circles and a vertical line. We have no idea what they mean but they are deliberately made. The tomb was engulfed in the growing peat and was only unearthed in the early 1860’s.
Our next stop was the three Malin More “portal” tombs. These tombs had two upright columns (portals), which held a capstone (dolmen). The largest of the three had a capstone of some 50 tons. Imagine a Stone Age community erecting such a structure. Astonishing.
We retuned to the ship and were greeted by Bill Galloway and his traditional Irish band that picked up the pace with a round of jigs, reels and ballads. Oh, did I mention that all of this was nestled in a bright blue sky with temperatures hovering about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, accompanied by a gentle breeze? It could not have been a more perfect day.
We sailed into the glass sea of Donegal estuary at 6AM. The sun was bright and the promise of another fine day was clear on the horizon. Our morning’s expedition, the low-lying island of Inishmurray (Murray’s Island), was off our port bow. This is normally a notoriously difficult place to land, but today the sea and wind was with us and we made landfall at 9.
We walked the half-mile to the archaeological site along the coast path. Great black back gulls and terms careened overhead, not pleased with our presence in their private kingdom. As we walked the main path to the monastery we passed the empty homes of all those who lived for centuries on this island; the names Brady and Gillespie are visible in the graveyard. Inishmurray had a permanent population until the mid-1950’s when the people petitioned the government to help them leave the island for a better life on the mainland in Sligo. One of the homes still had the remnant of a curtain being beaten by the wind, and I imagined the family saying goodbye to their home. Not an easy thing to do. Bluebells scattered color across the landscape, adding a poignant counterpoint to the ghostly solitude of the abandoned homes.
The enclosed monastery on Inishmurray dates to the late 6th century, when a hermit Saint Muirdeach established himself in this remote place. His reputation for holiness soon spread and disciples joined him. The site we visited today was continuously inhabited from the late 6th through the 12th century. Architecturally it is a time capsule as it has elements of all these transitional periods from the clocháin (the bee hive huts) to the Norman influenced church of the 12th century. Inishmurray contains a number of powerful leacht (an outdoor altar). One in particular also caught the eye of the visitor as it contains the so-called “cursing stones.” These perfectly round stones sitting on top of the altar are turned in a counter clockwise fashion while uttering the most serious imprecations against an enemy. A superb wall about 12 feet high and 10 feet thick surrounds the entire monastery.
After lunch we boarded coaches and set off on a number of different itineraries: one group visited the artisnal tweed mills of the Donegal weavers, another group went on a three mile hike and the last group, of which I was a member, went on the archaeological visit. Our first stop was the neo-lithic “court” tomb of Cloghanmore in Glen Malin. This spectacular tomb (trapezoidal in shape) was begun about five thousand years ago by the first farmers to arrive in Ireland. It is approximately 150 feet long and 60 feet wide. It likely took generations to build and clearly was a very important communal enterprise. It is one of the very few tombs with such antiquity to possess neo-lithic art. On two stones near the entrance, carved into the rock, are circles and a vertical line. We have no idea what they mean but they are deliberately made. The tomb was engulfed in the growing peat and was only unearthed in the early 1860’s.
Our next stop was the three Malin More “portal” tombs. These tombs had two upright columns (portals), which held a capstone (dolmen). The largest of the three had a capstone of some 50 tons. Imagine a Stone Age community erecting such a structure. Astonishing.
We retuned to the ship and were greeted by Bill Galloway and his traditional Irish band that picked up the pace with a round of jigs, reels and ballads. Oh, did I mention that all of this was nestled in a bright blue sky with temperatures hovering about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, accompanied by a gentle breeze? It could not have been a more perfect day.
