A Medieval Feast

This was a feast for the eyes – a few thousand years younger than Rock Art and far less enigmatic! Our travels took us to County Meath where we explored the monastic city of Kells (where the famed book was written and illustrated), Kells Augustinian Priory – a different Kells but in County Kilkenny (and which Finola has written about in her post) – and Jerpoint Abbey – a Cistercian monastery rife with carved figures – some up to 900 years old.

Firstly, the Book of Kells is worth more than a passing mention, especially as some commentators have likened the medieval carvings at Jerpoint and other contemporary monastic foundations in Ireland to ‘illuminated manuscripts cast in stone’ – because of the richness of the characters, the decoration and the detail. The Book of Kells probably dates from the 8th or 9th centuries and may either have been written in its entirety in Kells, or started by St Columba’s community in Iona and completed in the Scriptorium in Kells. That building still exists! In fact it (or something very like it) is illustrated in the book. It’s known as St Colmcille’s House – we went to have a look at it, and were fortunate to have a tour by its guardian.

A page from the Book of Kells which may be an illustration of the Scriptorium at Kells – and, perhaps, a self-portrait of the writer: see him sitting in the doorway to the house working away with his quill pens…

St Colmcille’s House – in its 21st century context (top left), the keeper of the key (bottom), and the ancient stone roofed oratory (main picture) which is supposedly where the Book of Kells was written – or, perhaps, completed. The upper floor of the building has a small window oriented to focus sunlight on the writing table. St Colmcille’s bed was also kept here – a large and heavy stone slab – until it was stolen in the 1950s! A few hundred years earlier (in 1007) the Book itself was stolen from Kells and eventually found in a nearby bog. It stayed in Kells until 1654, when it was sent to Dublin for safekeeping: it is now on permanent display in Trinity College.

So – back to the feast, and this was centred on Jerpoint (Kilkenny), which has spectacular examples of medieval carving, including at the tomb of Felix O’Dulany, Bishop of Ossory between 1178 and 1202. Adornments on later tombs include ‘Weepers’ – those who might be in mourning for the departed souls. These figures were carved by members of the O’Tunney family – sculptors from Callan who worked in the 15th and 16th centuries. Some of them can be readily identified: St Peter, for example (another keeper of the key), while the trio below are St Catherine – with her wheel, Michael the Archangel and St Margaret of Antioch – who is conquering a Dragon.

The Weepers at the top of this post show how they were martyred: St Thomas with a lance, St Simon with a saw, St Bartholomew holds a skin (he was flayed to death) and St Paul with a sword.

Another trio of Weepers: none of the guidebooks identify these, but I’m sure that among our readership there is an expert hagiographer who can help out…

At Jerpoint it’s not just the tombs and the Weepers which fascinate: there is a 15th century cloister which, in its heyday, displayed a riot of carvings both saintly and secular. Some of these are in situ; some are partially destroyed and others have been recovered during archaeological excavations, and placed on display in a little museum. Among them we identified knights, ladies, animals fantastic and real, and ‘ordinary folk’ – including a man with stomach ache!

It’s not easy to do justice to all the carvings at Jerpoint: I could fill many more pages. There are also cross slabs, roof bosses, decorative friezes and capitals…

I can’t leave Jerpoint without recounting one story which I was delighted to discover. You may remember my excitement when I found out that the real St Valentine is interred in the Carmelite Church in Dublin. Here at Jerpoint, Co Kilkenny, is another marvel: the bones of St Nicholas are reputed to be buried here… Yes – the Santa Claus St Nicholas! Tradition has it that a band of Irish Norman knights from Kilkenny went to the Holy Land to take part in the Crusades. As they headed home to Ireland, they ‘seized’ St Nicholas’ remains, bringing them back to Jerpoint, where the bones were buried – some say – under the floor of the Abbey (others say they repose nearby at the old church of St Nicholas).

Cross-slabs commemorating knights at Jerpoint: did they bring back Saint Nicholas from the Holy Land?

…That saint protector of the child
Whose relics pure lie undefiled
His casket safe within its shrine
Where the shamrocks grow and rose entwine…

(from The Bones of Santa Claus by Bill Watkins)

Well, we may or may not have seen – or walked over – the tomb of St Nicholas, but we saw his Reindeer during our medieval feast tour. Or perhaps they were somebody else’s Reindeer… They are carved on to the base of the Market Cross in Kells (Meath), the town which boasts so much history and which has no less than five high crosses and a round tower.

Medieval illustrations on the high crosses at Kells, including some enigmatic Reindeer

Finola and I between us have treated you to a horn of plenty this week with our tours of medieval hotspots in Ireland. We know it’s not West Cork! However, these posts demonstrate, again, how easy it is to find history (and legend) wherever you go in this special land. In fact, it’s very difficult to travel far here without tripping over the past. It’s always fairly low-key. Most sites are protected as scheduled monuments; some are in the good care of the Office of Public Works and have guides and visitor centres. Many are remote, open to the wind, rain and sunshine and free for us all to visit: very often you will have the history all to yourself.

Posted on July 11, 2015
6 Comments

Scratched Stone – Scratched Heads

Aultagh Ogham Stone

One thing always leads to another – that’s something you can be sure of when we are on our archaeological adventures. A case in point was a recent expedition to have a look at Ballynacarriga Castle (not far from Dunmanway, County Cork: 16th century – notable for having a Sheela-na-gig carving built high up into the outer masonry wall, and some unusual carved inscriptions on the internal stonework).

Ballynacarriga Castle (left) with its Sheela-na-gig (right)

Perhaps these various stone scribings turned our minds to the subject of Rock Art (easily done). Our excellent guide on that morning, Margaret Murphy of the Skibbereen Heritage Centre, offered to show us an Ogham stone not too far away, in the townland of Aultagh. How could we refuse?

Assistance required in finding the stone!

Our goal was beside an ancient track in Aultagh Wood (Coil an Ailtaigh), approached from a private driveway. Margaret knew the owner who readily gave us permission to have a look. In fact, he provided sterling service after we had searched in vain for the elusive rock – opportunely arriving with a pole to clear the thick undergrowth, and soon revealing this modest boulder to our eager gaze.

Stone uncovered…

The stone lies close to a drainage ditch and has possibly arrived there from another location at some time in its history. In one area the surface of the rock has been damaged, affecting part of the scribings: it may be that it was once standing – now it is prone with carved marks clearly visible on the upper surface.

The Aultagh Ogham Stone in context

The last time I wrote a post about ogham (here it is) I gave a very general overview of the subject. Ogham stones are concisely described by the Irish National Monuments Service as:

…upright monoliths or recumbent slabs, onto which ogham script has been incised. Ogham script consists of groups of 1-5 parallel lines and notches cut along the side or across the edge of a stone to represent the sounds of the Irish language. It is usually read up the left angle. The inscription gives a person’s name (usually male) and immediate antecedent/s or tribal ancestor. The stones may have functioned as memorials, grave markers or territorial markers and date from the late 4th to the early 8th century AD.

Fine examples of ogham stones in Ireland

Here’s the entry in the National Monuments Service records for our Aultagh stone:

Description: On a W-facing slope, in Aultagh Wood. Fallen stone (L 1.1m; 0.7m x 0.3m) with inscription on flat face. According to Macalister (1945, 75) ‘fashioned by an illiterate artificer, copying by rote from a wooden model cut for his guidance’ and reading UBEDABO ALTASI.

That’s quite a bald statement from Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister who was Professor of Celtic archaeology at University College Dublin from 1909 to 1943, during which time he compiled and edited the catalogue of all known ogham inscriptions from Britain and Ireland. Macalister’s theories on ogham are generally out of favour today (some commentators have claimed that his interpretations are gibberish) but he seems to accept the Aultagh stone as being within the early medieval ogham tradition. Yet it seems to me very different from many of the other stones we have seen: it is very sharply incised, obviously with a fine-tipped metal tool, whereas a majority of the traditional or ‘classic’ ogham stones are larger and more robustly carved.

Possible ogham stone at Maulinward, West Cork (left) and others from the Stone Corridor at UCC

When you begin to delve into modern literature on ogham you realise how very many varieties of examples there are, and also how many differing interpretations there are of how to ‘read’ the script. This was monumental writing, labour intensive and time consuming to undertake. For this reason it is generally supposed that ogham was ostensibly reserved for marking important graves or places, and that the inscriptions are all names.

Aultagh Ogham Stone – ‘classic’, ‘scholastic’ – or ‘fake’?

There are suggestions that ogham inscriptions for more general – and less monumental – usage were once carved on wood, and might have been language primers for the bardic poets. Later inscriptions are sometimes termed ‘scholastic ogham’ deriving from the fact that the inscriptions are believed to have been inspired by manuscript sources, instead of being continuations of the original ‘monument’ tradition. Hallmarks of scholastic ogham are the median line and scribings being on the flat face of a stone (as at Aultagh) rather than on the edge. Ogham was occasionally used for notes in manuscripts down to the 16th century, and the burgeoning interest in all things antiquarian from the 18th century onwards led to a popular ogham revival. A typical example, from the graveyard in Ahenny, Co Tipperary, has an English inscription dated 1802 and this in ogham: FA AN LIG SO NA LU ATA MARI NI DHIMUSA O MBALLI NA GCRANIBH, interpreted as ‘Under this stone lies Mary Dempsy from Ballycranna’. Macalister takes the view that this inscription, and others like it, were written “with much more zeal than discretion”, while some scholars have suggested that this more modern usage of the scribing should be termed ‘fake ogham’.

My own drawing of the Aultagh inscribed stone – traced from detailed photographs

You may like to have a go at translating the inscription at Aultagh for yourself. Firstly you will need to select your decipherer: a quick internet search will show that there are many, and also a whole lot of inconsistencies. But perhaps this is all part of the head-scratching: and also part of the whole fascination of a historical subject where many of the elements can only be guessed at…

Posted on July 11, 2015July 11, 2015
19 Comments

All the Trimmings

In my two previous posts on our wonderful West Cork colourful houses, A Lick of Paint and An Extra Lick of Paint, I’ve concentrated on overall house colour and on how that colour stands out in the landscape or the streetscape. Since that second post was written, in March, two of the most colourful houses I photographed have been re-painted, both in shades of khaki. Am I chronicling an endangered species? I hope not!

So in the spirit of celebrating our colourful tradition, I am devoting a post to the trim choices – the window surrounds, the doors and the chimneys, the shop fronts – that add to the vibrancy and delight of our neighbourhoods, villages and countryside.

The most common trim choice is white and often that seems the only, or perfect, choice. Or perhaps the safest. It certainly provides a lively contrast to a bold colour.

White and bold-colour contrast can also look charming the other way around – white walls and colourful trim.

However, the juxtaposition of two bold colours, or even three, for walls and trim is irresistible.

Windows are a natural focus for colour. Sometimes the frame and the surround is painted the same colour and sometimes two colours are employed, both contrasting with the wall colour.

A local tradition seems to be to paint the chimneys the same colour as the walls, although occasionally the trim colour is used instead. I particularly like the chimneys in Eyries on the Beara Peninsula. Note the jaunty use of the trim colour on the chimney pots, on the second-to-last house in the lower photograph.

Many traditional village or town commercial buildings here are masonry, with the shop-fronts in painted wood. A few examples here – although traditional shop-fronts deserve a post to themselves at some point. I also include cafés, restaurants and pubs in this category.

Kinsale is a cornucopia of colour! Herewith just a few examples of what you’ll find if you wander its streets.

Trim colour is often used to good effect on garden walls and gate posts in addition to the house. Here’s a fetching example from near Union Hall .

So – what do you think, Dear Reader? Do you have a favourite among these examples? Do you have any photos of your own to share? If so, comment below, or drop by our Facebook Page and vote for the one you like best. I will finish with one of my own current favourites and an exuberant addition to Ballydehob.

Posted on July 5, 2015July 5, 2015
14 Comments

A Tale of Four Churches

Kilcoe Medieval Church

Kilcoe is a magical place. The story of its four churches leads us from the dawn of Christianity in Ireland through turbulent times and many centuries when religious differences and sectarian strife marked all aspects of life in Ireland.

The four churches: 1, Kilcoe Medieval Church. 2, Mass Rock. 3, Kilcoe 19th Century Church. 4. Kilcoe Modern Church of the Most Holy Rosary

We love going down to the Medieval church at Kilcoe or wandering the boreens along the Roaringwater River. Those boreens are now part of the Fastnet Trail Network and last weekend, at the Launch, we were treated to a talk about the locality from Fr Patrick Hickey, Parish Priest of Timoleague and a noted scholar of West Cork History. This blog post was inspired by that talk – thank you, Fr Hickey!

Inside the church, showing the ogival windows, the altar, piscina or stoup, and a small recessed cupboard

Kilcoe gets its name from St Coch, a nun said to be a colleague of St Ciarán of Cape Clear, who preached Christianity in Ireland before St Patrick, in the 5th Century. It is possible she founded a church here, but what we do know is that one was built in Medieval times – a building that still exists although the ivy is doing its best to take it over.

It’s a beautiful and atmospheric place, on the water, overlooking Roaringwater Bay. Two castles are in view: Kilcoe and Rincolisky, a McCarthy and an O’Driscoll Castle respectively. Each has a fascinating history that deserves a post of its own sometime. Some special features remain in this ruined church – windows with carved ogees, a lovely arched doorway, a piscina (for washing vessels) or stoup (for washing hands), a recess for storing vessels and the remains of a possible altar.

Rear windown, interior

Rear Window, exterior, detail

Side window, exterior

We don’t know exactly when this church was built or by whom, but we do know it was in ruins by 1615. Perhaps it was destroyed by the same forces that laid siege to Kilcoe Castle after the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 – a period that marked the end of the Old Gaelic Order in West Cork.

The Medieval church, with Kilcoe Castle in the background.

The Church, with Kilcoe Castle in the background

The rise of the Protestant Ascendancy class in the aftermath of that fateful battle privileged the Church of Ireland (transplanted Anglicanism) over the Catholic faith and a series of new laws, gradually getting harsher, were designed to suppress ‘Romanism’. This culminated in the enactment, in 1695, of the infamous Penal Laws. While attendance at mass was initially tolerated, churches could only be built from wood and away from roads. Eventually, priests were expelled from Ireland and after that mass had to be held in secret, with priests moving from hiding place to hiding place. At Roaringwater Pier Fr Hickey talked of the typical cargo of the smuggling ships that plied their trade from there: each ship to arrive from France would be carrying tobacco, brandy – and a priest!

Fr Hickey at Roaringwater Pier

Old Bollard at Roaringwater Pier

From this period we find the Mass Rocks scattered around rural Ireland, identified on the basis of local tradition. The one at Ardura Beg is just up from a tiny pier that would have offered possibility of a quick escape. Many stories have come down of lookouts warning of the approach of the ‘red coats’ and the miraculous ways in which priests would make their escape. (See here and here for examples.)

Sheona and Amanda examine the mass rock at Ardura Beg

Places of worship must be located where they are accessible and the first two are close by the sea, which afforded the easiest travel routes in Ireland for most of its history. However, roads were constructed eventually and the next two churches were located along these new routes. The first one, we’ll call it the Old Church, was built along the new road that led from Skibbereen to the Beara Peninsula. After 1778 the anti-Catholic laws were gradually relaxed, although it was not until 1829 that full Catholic Emancipation was won by Daniel O’Connell. The Old Church was probably built around 1800 and was a simple ‘barn-style’ edifice which served an impoverished and famine-stricken populace for a hundred years.

Old Church near Roaringwater Pier

Barn-style church in West Cork

Left, the Old Church near Roaringwater Pier. Right, an example of a simple ‘barn style’ church in West Cork

By the turn of the 20th Century it was deemed unfit for purpose. Nowadays it is a gentle green space, lovingly tended and in use as a grotto. Children were buried there – it was not a cillín, but a consecrated graveyard – and a memorial remembers them now.

Grotto and Chirdren Memorial. A place for contemplation

Grotto and Children’s Memorial. A place for contemplation

Catholic Emancipation ushered in a long period of church building by the newly-confident Catholic majority. The new road from Skibbereen to Ballydehob was constructed at the end of the 19th century and the New Church was built there in 1905, right beside the bridge over the Roaringwater River.

Bridge over Roaringwater River

The two styles of churches common at the time were Neo-Gothic, Influenced by continental cathedrals, and Hiberno-Romanesque which took its inspiration from the Early Medieval Romanesque style of Old Ireland and featured wonderful doorways and round towers. The Kilcoe New Church, the Church of the Most Holy Rosary, was built in the Neo-Gothic style, with a large rose window at the eastern end.

Kilcoe, Church of the Most Holy Rosary

Originally the side-aisles did not have seats – poorer people could stand there for mass, while those who could afford a penny would occupy the pews. As the church fund grew, thought was put into ornamentation and stained glass was commissioned for several windows. The rose window was executed by the Harry Clarke Studios in 1943 and shows scenes from the life of Christ and of Mary.

The Rose Window, by the Harry Clarke Studio

The Altar and side windows were the work of Sarah Purser’s Tower of Glass. The choice of stained glass – from Dublin-based Celtic Revival artists rather than the English or Continental firms that supplied most church glass at the time – was a choice that demonstrates the nationalistic feelings that were rife in West Cork at the time.

St Brigid

St Patrick

Visit of the Magi

Irish History is written large on her landscape. In this one small area – these sites are within a couple of kilometres of each other – we see encapsulated sixteen hundred years of history, starting with St Coch and ending with the latest incarnation of a church at Kilcoe. Their beauty and their peaceful settings have been hard won. They should serve to remind us that peace and tolerance must always be cherished and safeguarded.

Rincolisky Castle from Kilcoe Medieval Church

Posted on July 5, 2015August 29, 2018
11 Comments

Hares in Abundance

“And now, Sir Hare, good-day to you. God guide you to a how-d’ye-do with me…” (from the Middle English poem – Names of the Hare – translation by Seamus Heaney)

You may know that I am a Hare fanatic. Every day as I travel along through West Cork – driving, cycling or walking – I am scouring the fields and hedgerows in the hope of seeing one of these shy and elusive animals: very occasionally my watchfulness is rewarded. Last year I kept a Hare Diary… on the last day of December I counted up: I had seen only six, and two of these were in other parts of Ireland. Yet, when I first visited Ballybane West – just over the hill from here – back in the early 1990s I saw them on most days; one early morning then I looked out of the window and there was a whole luck of Hares running around the field beyond the house – at least ten of them.

A luck of Hares by Christina Jasmin Roser, feltmaker

Where have all the Hares gone? I can’t answer that, but I can tell you that there are a whole lot of Hares in the Heron Gallery, Ahakista at the moment: Annabel Langrish and her husband, Klaus have mounted an excellent exhibition of art and craft works based around images of the Hare.

The exhibition brings together the work of several artists from the West of Ireland: paintings, drawings, feltwork, fabrics, papier mache, jewellery and ceramics. The whole makes a really attractive assemblage, but any one of the works on display – all of which are for sale – would be an elegant addition to your own art collection! I would readily bring them all here to Nead an Iolair but – as we already have numerous images of Hares around the house – Finola has put an embargo on further Hare imports (just for the moment).

Yours Truly was asked to say a few words about Hares at the exhibition opening: a wonderful portait of William the Hare by Sylvia Parkinson looks on

All the works in the Heron Gallery show bring out the magical qualities of this special animal. Mostly it is Lepus Timidus Hibernicus which is depicted: the Irish Hare. This belongs to the Mountain Hare species, related to Arctic Hares. Irish Hares don’t turn white in the winter but they do moult to a paler colour, and sometimes they have white patches then. There are also Brown Hares in Ireland: these were imported from Britain to add to the game stock on landlord estates from medieval times onwards.

Three ceramic Hares by Annabel Langrish, from the exhibition

Although the Irish Hare has been ‘legally protected’ since 1930 – and is listed as a protected species under EU legislation – it can be hunted under license, and Hare coursing is still permitted. This seems anomalous to me: those who support Hare coursing claim that the animals do not suffer. They are captured from the wild, caged (usually for several weeks), and released onto a course where they are chased by muzzled Greyhounds. After this they are put back into the wild. As their name would suggest (Lepidus Timidus), Hares are nervous animals and there can be little doubt that they do suffer stress through the ordeal. Many die before being released. Coursing has been banned in the UK since 2005. There have been moves to have Hares fully protected in Ireland.

The Hare’s Revenge: Dean Wolstenholme’s painting of Greyhounds coursing a Hare (right), while in the medieval woodcut (left) a Hare plays a tabor. The tabor is the forerunner of the Irish bodhran: I am reliably informed that the best skin to use for a bodhran is that of the Greyhound!

The Hare is a most ancient animal. Fossils have been found dating from Pleistocene times showing that the Hare has not changed or developed in three million years: presumably it is just so perfectly integrated to its environment. It also occupies a prime place in our own mythology. Hare is the archetypal Trickster figure in many cultures – helping to create the world, to bring fire to humans, generally being mischevious and getting into hopeless scrapes, but always coming out on top: just like Warner Brothers’ Bugs Bunny in fact – who is, of course, a Hare! Bugs (my favourite cartoon character) is loosely based on the Br’er Rabbit stories by ‘Uncle Remus’ – collected in the 1870s by Joel Chandler Harris from the oral tradition of the plantation slaves in the Southern United States. Br’er Rabbit (in America Hares are known as Jackrabbits) has his origin as a Trickster figure in African folk tradition.

I have gleaned most of my Hare lore from this much thumbed edition of The Leaping Hare by George Ewart Evans and David Thomson – published by Faber – which I acquired when it first came out in 1972. If you have an evening or three to spare I will happily regale you with tales of Hares gathered from far and wide and recorded in these pages.

Jewellery by Alison Ibbs

When I lived in Devon, on Dartmoor, I was fortunate to have around me many examples of a symbol known as The Tinners’ Rabbits. Chagford was a Stannary Town – a place where refined tin was assessed, coined, and sold and there was a story that the symbol was a badge of the tin miners. It depicts three Hares (not Rabbits) in a circle: each Hare has two ears, yet there are only three ears in total. A bit of a riddle, perhaps – but one which has been found all over the world, as a project carried out by Chris Chapman reveals. In Chagford’s medieval church (and in several others in Devon and elsewhere) there is a roof boss carved with the image.

There doesn’t seem to be any real evidence to connect the Tinners’ Rabbits symbol to the tin miners – however, there is a surviving superstition in Cornwall and in Ireland that if you meet a Hare while on your way to the mine (or, in some places, when you are going fishing) you turn around and go home!

Some of Annabel’s Hares in the exhibition (left) and (right) our own view of the Hare in the Moon seen from Nead an Iolair last week

Part of the universal folklore of Hares reminds us that it’s the Hare in the Moon we are seeing above us, not the Man in the Moon. And… I know you thought it was an Easter Bunny that brings the chocolate eggs – in fact it’s the Easter Hare! The Saxon spring festival of Ēostre celebrated a hero-Goddess who had a Hare as a companion… Well, that’s one of the many interpretations you will find of this moon-based festival.

Hare eggs and Hare ceramic by Etain Hickey

It’s not Easter now – it’s July – but you can go and see this exhibition on the Sheep’s Head for the rest of this month, and enjoy the beautiful gardens there as well. If, like me, you are a Hare fan, then don’t miss it!

Posted on June 28, 2015June 29, 2015
26 Comments

Closer Encounters – Fastnet Trails

The view from Cappaghglass, on the Rossbrin Walk

The view from Ballycummisk, on the Rossbrin Walk

Today (Sunday 28 June) a newly established system of walking trails was formally launched – by longstanding local TD (now retired) Jim O’Keefe – at Aughadown: we were part of the crowd

The Unveiling – from top left: mover and shaker Eugene McSweeney with Jim O’Keefe; Jim and the Fastnet Walk Trails Group Committee cutting the ribbon; on the inaugural walk – Fr Patrick Hickey giving us the low-down on smuggling at Roaringwater Pier; the wonderful Kilcoe National School Band

At Kilcoe Trailhead – the walks unveiled!

Rediscovering what we’ve only recently discovered… is that the best way of describing our experiences exploring the just launched Fastnet Trails? We have been traversing and driving around the boreens – local lanes and byways – that permeate this beautiful stretch of coastline and country on our own peninsula (Ballydehob is colloquially termed ‘the Gateway to the Mizen’) for the full two years that we have lived permanently here at Nead an Iolair. We have taken in the vistas – from the windows of our car – and appreciated the profuse combinations of sky, sea and mountain as we passed on our way; now, we are seeing everything anew, and in closer focus, because we have started to walk the trails.

Old Copper Mine at Ballycummisk (Rossbrin Walk)

Towards Mount Gabriel – Butter Road Walk

It may seem strange that many of these walks are along roads but don’t let that put you off! Remember that here in rural Ireland the old lanes were made to serve farmsteads and are little used today by anything more than very local traffic. I did the hike home from Ballydehob this morning (after my usual excellent coffee break in Budds) on the long route, passing by Ard Glas (Ballydehob Rossbrin Walk): I pootled along for well over an hour and didn’t see a single vehicle in the whole of that time! In fact, a passing car (or bicycle or tractor) is an event: invariably it involves a pause in walking while the time of day is passed in leisurely conversation during which acquaintances are made and news is passed on…

Have you time for a chat?

Before the official opening Finola and I undertook one of the walks (Lissheenacrehig Walk, starting at Kilcoe Trail Head): we deliberately chose the one that seemed perhaps the least interesting as it heads north inland and doesn’t pass directly by Roaringwater Bay. I’m not sure what we expected – after all, we had travelled all the little roads on this route by car previously – we are great explorers! In fact, our eyes were opened and we were surprised to be presented with wide views focussing on Mounts Gabriel, Kidd, Corrin and all the rugged uplands in between, and to be given the huge bonus of time to stop and scour inviting rock surfaces for new examples of Rock Art (we didn’t find any). But also it was the closer encounters which we really valued: a wealth (if that really is the right word?) of ruined sheds and cottages; wells, walls and wild flowers; an old burial ground with its memories of lives lived; the tumbling waters and green rocks of the Roaringwater River just before it empties itself into the Bay; archaeology (viewed from a distance on this occasion – the standing stones and ring forts are on private land and – as always – permission should be sought from the owners prior to visiting: that, of course, creating further opportunities for chat and dawdling).

View to Mount Kidd, Rossbrin Walk

Butter Road Walk

The signage on these walks is clear but discrete – you’d have to try very hard to lose your way. Very occasionally there are information boards: these have been well thought out and attractively drafted. At the end of our sample walk we realised we had taken three hours to do the 7.5 kilometres: the well produced trail information recommends allowing an hour and three quarters! I think that emphasises our predisposition to get diverted in every possible way…

Signage on the Butter Road

Useful signs along the way…

In all there are 80km of walks set out, from Schull in the west to Lisheen in the east. They are easily accessible, and there is ample parking at all the Trailheads.

The one trail which is largely away from surfaced roads is the Butter Walk, running between Ballydehob and Schull. This an ancient way – Finola has written about it and its fascinating history previously. It’s magical to get into the heart of rural Ireland and to immerse yourself in nature and a past writ so clearly on the landscape.

Along the Butter Road

We really believe that West Cork is pulsating with an underlying energy! So much has happened (and is happening) during our time here. Much of it is, of course, down to people who have been working away for years – often behind the scenes and, therefore, unappreciated – but future generations will realise what a debt is owed to these innovators: West Cork has been steadily and deservedly building its reputation as good food capital of Ireland, for example – and the opening of Uillinn in Skibbereen will emphasise the equal importance and historical context of the arts in these remoter landscapes. For music, drama and literature, also, we are always spoilt for choice: the furthest we have to travel is half an hour to see and hear world class performers in all these genres.

Roaringwater River, Lisheenacrehig Walk

The latest asset to bring West Cork to the fore is this – literally – trailblazing one: the establishment of a network of walking routes along the coast, through the countryside and into the wild places. Fastnet Trails has been quietly gestating now for some time: the launch today shows how much work has been undertaken already – and what fruition has been attained. On behalf of everyone locally we thank the organisers for achieving the realisation of their dreams which benefit all of us and the generations to come. A grand start has been made: undoubtedly, more good works will follow.

Light and shade: Lisheenacrehig Walk

Fastnet Trails are recognised by the National Trails Office and the Wild Atlantic Way: the venture has been organised by The Fastnet Walks Trails Group with the help of the Community Councils of Aughadown, Ballydehob and Schull

A page from the Book of Kells which may be an illustration of the Scriptorium at Kells – and, perhaps, a self-portrait of the writer: see him sitting in the doorway to the house working away with his quill pens…

Another trio of Weepers: none of the guidebooks identify these, but I’m sure that among our readership there is an expert hagiographer who can help out…

Cross-slabs commemorating knights at Jerpoint: did they bring back Saint Nicholas from the Holy Land?

Medieval illustrations on the high crosses at Kells, including some enigmatic Reindeer

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Aultagh Ogham Stone

Ballynacarriga Castle (left) with its Sheela-na-gig (right)

Assistance required in finding the stone!

Stone uncovered…

The Aultagh Ogham Stone in context

Fine examples of ogham stones in Ireland

Description: On a W-facing slope, in Aultagh Wood. Fallen stone (L 1.1m; 0.7m x 0.3m) with inscription on flat face. According to Macalister (1945, 75) ‘fashioned by an illiterate artificer, copying by rote from a wooden model cut for his guidance’ and reading UBEDABO ALTASI.

Possible ogham stone at Maulinward, West Cork (left) and others from the Stone Corridor at UCC

Aultagh Ogham Stone – ‘classic’, ‘scholastic’ – or ‘fake’?

My own drawing of the Aultagh inscribed stone – traced from detailed photographs

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Left, the Old Church near Roaringwater Pier. Right, an example of a simple ‘barn style’ church in West Cork

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A luck of Hares by Christina Jasmin Roser, feltmaker

Yours Truly was asked to say a few words about Hares at the exhibition opening: a wonderful portait of William the Hare by Sylvia Parkinson looks on

Three ceramic Hares by Annabel Langrish, from the exhibition

The Hare’s Revenge: Dean Wolstenholme’s painting of Greyhounds coursing a Hare (right), while in the medieval woodcut (left) a Hare plays a tabor. The tabor is the forerunner of the Irish bodhran: I am reliably informed that the best skin to use for a bodhran is that of the Greyhound!

Jewellery by Alison Ibbs

Some of Annabel’s Hares in the exhibition (left) and (right) our own view of the Hare in the Moon seen from Nead an Iolair last week

Hare eggs and Hare ceramic by Etain Hickey

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The Unveiling – from top left: mover and shaker Eugene McSweeney with Jim O’Keefe; Jim and the Fastnet Walk Trails Group Committee cutting the ribbon; on the inaugural walk – Fr Patrick Hickey giving us the low-down on smuggling at Roaringwater Pier; the wonderful Kilcoe National School Band

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