What is recorded here

Dangerous seas drove monks from Skellig Michael to Ballinskelligs before the eleventh century, and Augustinian canons later rebuilt the priory in 1210. Fragments of that vanished church still occupy the Prior's House: an ogee window head, heavy drainage slabs and doorway arches. They are not decorative; they are the abbey's displaced skeleton, saved from forgetting and arranged where human hands can still touch what the tide and centuries tried to erase.

Ballinskelligs Abbey (KE097-036----) was the priory of the Arroasian Canons of the Order of St Augustine, located on the W shore of Ballinskelligs Bay. It was founded in 1210, or shortly afterwards, originating from Rattoo in north Kerry. It is recorded that the early monastery of Skellig Michael (KE104A-001----) was transferred, due to the hazardous conditions on the rock, to this location prior to the mid-eleventh century (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 192; Smith 1756, 103). The priory retained possession of the Great Skellig and of the alias 'de Rupe Michaelis'. A number of architectural fragments from the priory are located for safe-keeping in the Prior's House. These include the head of an ogee window (KE097-036008-), several large drainage slabs (KE097-036009-), and a number of arched sections of a doorway (KE097-036010-). The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1085. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 31 July 2013

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