Glendalough
Jun. 15th, 2013 01:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranNow for somewhere really special. This is Glendalough in County Wicklow, the site of what was once an important monastic city founded in the 6th century by St Kevin.
The Irish name for Glendalough is Gleann Dá Loch, meaning "Glen of the Two Lakes". The story goes that St Kevin (Caoimhín) had a dream in which he saw a valley with two lakes and so he set off into the mountains to find it. Getting here would have been no easy journey.
After finding the valley, Kevin returned with a group of monks to create a monastic settlement, which later grew, despite its remoteness, into one of the most important religious centres of the early Irish church.
It's easy to imagine this as a sort of Dark Ages Rivendell. A rare sanctuary of peace and learning, which people could come to learn to read and borrow books and receive religious instruction. There were workshops and hospitals, schools and farms.
The early Irish church was quite different before the Norman Invasion, and it seems likely that Glendalough was a mixed monastery where men and women could live together and even marry. According to our guide, leaders were also elected, including some women, which was quite remarkable for the time.
At one time, the buildings would have been surrounded by broad-leaf forest, so the tall towers would have served as a guide to help pilgrims find their way to the city. This typical Irish round tower was built in the middle ages and later restored.
AS you can see, the narrow door is quite high off the ground. Apparently, the theory that this was so people could hide inside after a ladder was pulled up is now out-of-favour.
Firstly, it makes good sense to put the higher up just for structural reasons. The foundations of these towers are quite shallow and the bottom of the tower below the door is effectively filled with ballast. Plus, putting the door (a structural weakpoint) higher up increases the possible height of the tower above it. Next, the theory that merely pulling up a ladder would thwart invaders only holds if you assume that raiders who are resourceful enough to cross the North Sea in a small wooden boat aren't clever enough to be able to construct a ladder themselves. Finally, there are obvious inherent disadvantages in trying to hide from cruel and avaricious torch-bearing attackers in what is effectively a tall and efficient chimney.
Here are the remains of the cathedral at Glendalough. At one time, the diocese of Glendalough stretched as far as what would one day be Dublin. It was only after the dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough were later merged that Glendalough began to decline as a religious centre. Remember how Christ Church in Dublin is officially the cathedral of Dublin and Glendalough?
After being partially destroyed by English troops in 1398, Glendalough fell into a decline, although it remained an important place of pilgrimage. The graveyard, in particular, remained in operation, and remains one of the few places where Protestants and Catholics are buried together.
On to the rest of the valley now. Here is the lower of the two lakes. This one is slowly turning into a bog, as layers of reeds gradually fill it up.
Here's what it looks like after it's been filled in. Although this looks like solid ground, this is actually a bog and mostly water.
Walking through the valley. Needless to say, Ireland is green. Very green.
And here's the upper lake, featuring one of the most spectacular views in the area, especially when the water is still. St Kevin spent time as a hermit in a cave overlooking the lake. The cave, known as St Kevin's Bed, may even have been a bronze age burial site.
Something else of interest, before we leave the valley. Can you work from this sign what the Irish name for Wicklow is?
The Irish text reads Páirc Náisiúnta Shléibhte Chill Mhantáin or National Park (Páirc Náisiúnta) of the mountains (Sléibhte) of Cill Mhantáin (lenited in the genitive!). Cill Mhantáin is the Irish name for Wicklow and means Church (Cill) of Manntach ("the toothless one").
The story goes that when St Patrick and his followers tried to land near the modern town of Wicklow, they were attacked by locals and one man lost his front teeth, simultaneously acquiring the name of Manntach. Undeterred, he returned to the area and founded a church there, and eventually the town and then the entire county came to be known as Cill Mhantáin ("Church of the Toothless One").
Here's the view from the top of Wicklow Gap, high up in the Wicklow Mountains. This is not far away from where they filmed the battle scenes in Braveheart. It's also along here that pilgrims to Glendalough and even St Kevin himself may have travelled.
This lake is Lough Nahanagan (Loch na hOnchon, meaning "Lake of the Water Monster"), and is supposedly inhabited by a local equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. But, in case you think this is all untouched wilderness...
Just above it is the Turlough Hill power station! Turlough Hill is a pumped storage hyrodelectric scheme, where water is pumped up from Lough Nahanagan into a reservoir on the hill whenever surplus power is available and then used to generate electricity on the way back again when its needed. Hopefully all without disturbing the monster!
Next up, another Cill, this time the Cill of Cainnech...
The Irish name for Glendalough is Gleann Dá Loch, meaning "Glen of the Two Lakes". The story goes that St Kevin (Caoimhín) had a dream in which he saw a valley with two lakes and so he set off into the mountains to find it. Getting here would have been no easy journey.
After finding the valley, Kevin returned with a group of monks to create a monastic settlement, which later grew, despite its remoteness, into one of the most important religious centres of the early Irish church.
It's easy to imagine this as a sort of Dark Ages Rivendell. A rare sanctuary of peace and learning, which people could come to learn to read and borrow books and receive religious instruction. There were workshops and hospitals, schools and farms.
The early Irish church was quite different before the Norman Invasion, and it seems likely that Glendalough was a mixed monastery where men and women could live together and even marry. According to our guide, leaders were also elected, including some women, which was quite remarkable for the time.
At one time, the buildings would have been surrounded by broad-leaf forest, so the tall towers would have served as a guide to help pilgrims find their way to the city. This typical Irish round tower was built in the middle ages and later restored.
AS you can see, the narrow door is quite high off the ground. Apparently, the theory that this was so people could hide inside after a ladder was pulled up is now out-of-favour.
Firstly, it makes good sense to put the higher up just for structural reasons. The foundations of these towers are quite shallow and the bottom of the tower below the door is effectively filled with ballast. Plus, putting the door (a structural weakpoint) higher up increases the possible height of the tower above it. Next, the theory that merely pulling up a ladder would thwart invaders only holds if you assume that raiders who are resourceful enough to cross the North Sea in a small wooden boat aren't clever enough to be able to construct a ladder themselves. Finally, there are obvious inherent disadvantages in trying to hide from cruel and avaricious torch-bearing attackers in what is effectively a tall and efficient chimney.
Here are the remains of the cathedral at Glendalough. At one time, the diocese of Glendalough stretched as far as what would one day be Dublin. It was only after the dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough were later merged that Glendalough began to decline as a religious centre. Remember how Christ Church in Dublin is officially the cathedral of Dublin and Glendalough?
After being partially destroyed by English troops in 1398, Glendalough fell into a decline, although it remained an important place of pilgrimage. The graveyard, in particular, remained in operation, and remains one of the few places where Protestants and Catholics are buried together.
On to the rest of the valley now. Here is the lower of the two lakes. This one is slowly turning into a bog, as layers of reeds gradually fill it up.
Here's what it looks like after it's been filled in. Although this looks like solid ground, this is actually a bog and mostly water.
Walking through the valley. Needless to say, Ireland is green. Very green.
And here's the upper lake, featuring one of the most spectacular views in the area, especially when the water is still. St Kevin spent time as a hermit in a cave overlooking the lake. The cave, known as St Kevin's Bed, may even have been a bronze age burial site.
Something else of interest, before we leave the valley. Can you work from this sign what the Irish name for Wicklow is?
The Irish text reads Páirc Náisiúnta Shléibhte Chill Mhantáin or National Park (Páirc Náisiúnta) of the mountains (Sléibhte) of Cill Mhantáin (lenited in the genitive!). Cill Mhantáin is the Irish name for Wicklow and means Church (Cill) of Manntach ("the toothless one").
The story goes that when St Patrick and his followers tried to land near the modern town of Wicklow, they were attacked by locals and one man lost his front teeth, simultaneously acquiring the name of Manntach. Undeterred, he returned to the area and founded a church there, and eventually the town and then the entire county came to be known as Cill Mhantáin ("Church of the Toothless One").
Here's the view from the top of Wicklow Gap, high up in the Wicklow Mountains. This is not far away from where they filmed the battle scenes in Braveheart. It's also along here that pilgrims to Glendalough and even St Kevin himself may have travelled.
This lake is Lough Nahanagan (Loch na hOnchon, meaning "Lake of the Water Monster"), and is supposedly inhabited by a local equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. But, in case you think this is all untouched wilderness...
Just above it is the Turlough Hill power station! Turlough Hill is a pumped storage hyrodelectric scheme, where water is pumped up from Lough Nahanagan into a reservoir on the hill whenever surplus power is available and then used to generate electricity on the way back again when its needed. Hopefully all without disturbing the monster!
Next up, another Cill, this time the Cill of Cainnech...
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