Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [121]
The substantial remains of this important monastic settlement are certainly impressive, but the real draw is the splendid setting: two dark and mysterious lakes tucked into a deep valley covered in forest. It is, despite its immense popularity, a deeply tranquil and spiritual place, and you will have little difficulty in understanding why those solitude-seeking monks came here in the first place.
HISTORY
In AD 498 a young monk named Kevin arrived in the valley looking for somewhere to kick back, meditate and be at one with nature. He pitched up in what had been a Bronze Age tomb on the southern side of the Upper Lake and for the next seven years slept on stones, wore animal skins, maintained a near-starvation diet and – according to the legend – became bosom buddies with the birds and animals. Kevin’s ecofriendly lifestyle soon attracted a bunch of disciples, all seemingly unaware of the irony that they were flocking to hang out with a hermit who wanted to live as far away from other people as possible. Over the next couple of centuries his one-man operation mushroomed into a proper settlement and by the 9th century Glendalough rivalled Clonmacnoise as the island’s premier monastic city. Thousands of students studied and lived in a thriving community that was spread over a considerable area.
Inevitably, Glendalough’s success made it a key target of Viking raiders, who sacked the monastery at least four times between 775 and 1071. The final blow came in 1398, when English forces from Dublin almost completely destroyed it. Efforts were made to rebuild and some life lingered on here as late as the 17th century when, under renewed repression, the monastery finally died.
ORIENTATION & INFORMATION
At the valley entrance, before the Glendalough Hotel, is Glendalough Visitor Centre ( 0404-45325; www.heritageireland.ie/en/MidlandsEastCoast/GlendaloughVisitorCentre; adult/child & student €3/1; 9.30am-6pm mid-Mar–Oct, to 5pm Nov–mid-Mar). It has a high-quality 17-minute audiovisual presentation called Ireland of the Monasteries, which does exactly what it says on the tin.
Coming from Laragh you first see the visitor centre, then the Glendalough Hotel, which is beside the entrance to the main group of ruins and the round tower. The Lower Lake is a small dark lake to the west, while further west up the valley is the much bigger and more impressive Upper Lake, with a large car park and more ruins nearby. Be sure to visit the Upper Lake and take one of the surrounding walks.
A model in the visitor centre should help you fix where everything is in relation to everything else.
SIGHTS
Upper Lake
The original site of St Kevin’s settlement, Teampall na Skellig is at the base of the cliffs towering over the southern side of the Upper Lake and is accessible only by boat; unfortunately, there’s no boat service to the site and you’ll have to settle for looking at it across the lake. The terraced shelf has the reconstructed ruins of a church and early graveyard. Rough wattle huts once stood on the raised ground nearby. Scattered around are some early grave slabs and simple stone crosses.
Just east of here and 10m above the lake waters is the 2m-deep artificial cave called St Kevin’s Bed, said to be where Kevin lived. The earliest human habitation of the cave was long before St Kevin’s era – there’s evidence that people lived in the valley for thousands of years before the monks arrived. In the green area just south of the car park is a large circular wall thought to be the remains of an early Christian stone fort (caher).
Follow the lakeshore path southwest of the car park until you come to the considerable remains of Reefert Church above the tiny River Poulanass. It’s a small, plain, 11th-century Romanesque nave-and-chancel church