What is recorded here

Inishvickillane, the southernmost Blasket island, holds a possible hut beside its Early Christian oratory. A shallow hollow and a circular patch of loose rocks mark the place where a small dwelling may have stood. The exact shape has blurred under time and tide, but the ridge still keeps the memory of someone living beside prayer.

Inishvickillane, the southernmost of the Blasket islands, lies 7 miles SW of Slea Head and 9 miles from the nearest embarkation point at Dunquin pier. The island has an area of 199 acres and the Early Christian monastic settlement KE061-006---- lies at the SE end of the island, on the E slopes of a rocky buff which rises prominently above the remainder of the island. (10) (KE061-006014-) Several accounts mention a beehive-hut near the oratory and the site of a square hut was recorded in the OSM and on the OS maps. It is not certain whether 1 or more huts are in question nor is their location sure. However, a little N of the oratory, at the E end of the rocky ridge which bounds the N side of the site, there is a hollow measuring 1.9 x 2.6m x .4m deep, and between this and the rock face is a roughly circular area, 3m in diameter, which is defined partly by the rock face, partly by loose rocks and boulders and partly by low rough walling. This area may have been disturbed in recent times and it is possible that a hut formerly stood here. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 845. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 8 August 2013

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