What is recorded here

Four miles west of the Dingle Peninsula, a quartz-covered stone platform stands beside an oratory named for St. Brendan. The island is bounded by sea-cliffs and rises to five hundred feet, yet this small mound remains the centre of its oldest memory. People may have gathered there to mark a life event or simply to touch the bright stones before returning to the rocky fields.

Inishtooskert, the northernmost of the Blasket island group, lies 4 miles off the W extremity of the Dingle Peninsula and 2.5 miles N of the Great Blasket. An area of 241 acres is bounded on all sides by sea-cliffs, and the land slopes upwards in a NW direction, from under 100 feet (30m) OD along the SE side to a maximum altitude of 573 feet (175m) roughly midway along the NW side of the island. The land is generally rocky with a thin soil cover and the N half of the island is devoid of any trace of settlement activity. Part of the S half of the island is occupied by a small field system, and it is within this that the Early Christian settlement, named after St. Brendan, is located. (3) (KE051-001003-) The leacht lies 4m E of the oratory and consists of a drystone-faced platform or mound of stone measuring 4.8m N-S x 1.76 to 2m E-W x .6m in height. It is surmounted by a large quantity of quartz stones. The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 844. 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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