Pictured at left, the ruins of a drystone tenant cottage on Dingle Peninsula. During the Potato Famine (the "Great Hunger") of 1845-52, tenant farmers who could not pay their rents were turned out and burned out of their cottages by their landlords. Many of these small farmers and herders were on land their families had held for hundreds of years, before the British crown gave large Irish land grants to English nobles, ignoring any claim to ownership by the native Irish.During the famine years, up to a million Irish may have died of starvation and disease, while their landlords shipped tons of food the tenants had raised to England, Europe, and the Americas. Probably another million emigrated to escape starvation. It's estimated that Ireland's population fell by 25% during the Great Hunger. The ruins of their cottages dot the Irish landscape.
More highlights of our Ring of Dingle tour:
• Just off Dunmore Head on Dingle's southwest coast lie the Blasket Islands and the ships' graveyard of Blasket Sound. One of the largest ships of the Spanish Armada sank here in October 1588, after storms scattered the Spanish ships gathering off the coast of France for an attack on England.
The Blaskets are isolated from the mainland four months out of every year and the inhabitants were always a hardy and independent lot, with a strong tradition of oral history. In the 1920s, some of the islanders—poets and storytellers—began writing down the local tales and the resulting books offer a unique window into a pre-feudal, pre-capitalist society, where many of the old medieval ways endured into the 2oth century. Some of those books, written in Gaelic and translated into several languages, have become staples of Irish literature.
The day we visited Dunmore Head, the Blaskets were shrouded in fog. But the coastline of the mainland was starkly beautiful. And its menace to boats and ships was all too evident. The islands are reached by ferry in good weather and there is an interpretive center and ruins of old settlements on Great Blasket Island that, we were told, are well worth a visit. The last residents were moved to the mainland in 1953. The islands remain pretty much as the residents left them.
• Our next stop was a group of clochaun (beehive huts) set on a hillside overlooking the sea. These were probably built between 300 and 700 A.D. There are several single huts and one large double beehive with a passageway in between. The construction is all drystone, and one can only marvel at the craftsmanship of the ancient builders.
The photo above shows the stepping stones that were probably used to reach the top of the beehive, to remove the capstone and allow smoke to escape from the hut. Below is the interior of the double beehive (which has lost most of its roof), and the passage through the adjoining wall. The souterrain extends under the passage and the wall.
As we drove along the coast road, we frequently caught glimpses of stone ruins—clochauns, forts, towers, and such, some dating from the Iron Age.• The western coast of the Dingle Peninsula was a cradle of early Christian civilization and one sees its marks at every turn. Many Christian monastic communities thrived here from 500-800 A.D. and became centers of learning that drew Christian scholars and students from all over Europe. Besides the monasteries and churches, there were farmers and herdsmen living in this relatively fertile corner of western Ireland.
The Gallarus Oratory was built sometime between the 6th and 11th centuries A.D. It is a small drystone church built in the shape of an overturned boat, overlooking the harbour at Ard na Caithne.
The stones are laid at a slight angle to the outside, allowing water to drain off—a method of building developed by Iron-Age tomb builders. That has kept the interior of the church relatively dry and well-preserved despite 1,000 years or more of North Atlantic gales.The oratory has not been rebuilt. It stands as it was built a millenium ago, except for a very slight bowing in of the upper walls, visible in this photo:
Over the door is a stone lintel with holes for an inward-opening wooden door. At the opposite end, a single small window gives scant light. Beside the church is a cross slab in what might have
been a cemetery for the priests (left).Most tourists approach the
Gallarus Oratory through the visitor center. Dennis took us up a one-lane side road to the "Dingle Way,"
a pilgrims' path that winds for 130 miles around the peninsula. It's marked by signposts and stone stiles (right). In many places, there is no set path to follow—just strike out across a pasture 'til you see the next signpost.
Walking a quarter mile along the Dingle Way, we entered the Gallarus site "through the back door." Those who enter through the visitor center pay a modest entry fee, but tradition prohibits charging entry fees to a pilgrim, so entry by the Pilgrims' Way is free.
Nearby, we visited the site of a 6th-8th-century Gallarus Priory—a small, walled monastic community with remains of a stone church and several small stone huts. The photo below shows the remains of the church with its two rooms—oratory and sanctuary. The walls are drystone, the remains of a double beehive.
Within the boundary wall of the priory, this six-foot-high cross slab bears Celtic symbols at the base, rising to an early form of the cross at the top. Carved about 1,200 years ago, it represents the triumph of Christianity over the paganism of pre-Christian Ireland.• In 1968-69, Hollywood came to Dingle for the filming of director David Lean's Ryan's Daughter. We stopped at a beach that was featured in the film. We've since seen the film and the beach and cliffs and offshore islands are beautiful in good weather.
When the movie company came to Dingle, there were no hotels or inns to house the cast and crew for months at a time. Local people opened their homes to the foreigners, who left behind them a new and thriving Bed & Breakfast industry, that soon spread all over Ireland.
• The western tip of Dingle Peninsula is also the westernmost tip of Great Britain and of Europe. Kruger's Pub, located on that point, is famous as the westernmost pub. It's a long side trip and we didn't stop there, but from the main road, you can't miss the sign.
That night, the rain let up and we walked back to Dick Mac's Pub, formerly a combined leather repair shop and pub, located across the street from St. Agnes Catholic Church. At each end of the bar is a small cubicle with a door on it. These are where the women would traditionally sit, while their men drank at the bar. That's Christal on the left and Emily on the right.I learned in Gallway that it is only in the last 10 or 15 years that it is considered proper for young people, and especially single women, to frequent pubs in Ireland.
Dick Mac's sports a plaque on the outside wall proclaiming it as a recipient of the James Joyce Award given to "authentic Irish pubs."
The cramped, crowded, noisy, and smoke-free interior of Dick Mac's Pub, Dingle:
We did some shopping that evening; I bought the Aran sweater and Irish cap I'm wearing in the photo at the top of this blog.
We had dinner—fish & chips—at Paul Galley's restaurant, off the beaten tourist track, up the hill from the harbor. After dinner, we attended mass at St. Agnes. (Peter is Catholic, Emily Methodist, Christal and I, Lutheran.) Peter said afterwards that it was the shortest mass he'd ever attended—no sermon, no hymns. The priest went through the liturgy of the sacrament at 90 mph with a thick Irish accent. When the congregation recited the liturgical responses, there was no unison, just each person reciting at his or her own pace. Peter said later, only his lifelong familiarity with the mass gave him any clue to what the priest and congregation were doing.
After mass we walked around the walled former nunnery behind the church, now a boarding school. We saw the gardens and the nuns' graveyard. Then we walked through the upper town where the locals live and saw lots of new houses in European style overlooking the bay.
Next: The weather improves, sort of.
Cheers,
--David
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