What is recorded here

Beginish Island is a narrow strip of land caught between mainland and Valencia, its eastern tip touching Church Island only when the tide pulls back. Canroe rises at the end like a shoulder, carrying eight houses, fifteen cairns and eight animal shelters across its summit and down to the rocks. The houses were small, rectangular and practical, built for storm, keeping and daily life rather than display. A hand-carved stone bowl lies near one of them, smooth enough to suggest that even in a harsh place people still shaped beauty into ordinary things.

Beginish Island lies between Valencia Island and the mainland at the N end of Valencia Harbour. Its E end comprises a narrow splayed projection terminating in a curving sand-bar at its SE tip, which, at certain low tides, is connected with the nearby Church Island (KE079-032001-). The highest point at this end of the island is known as Canroe, and a settlement complex located here extends from its western side over its summit and down to the rocky shoreline at E. The complex comprises eight houses, fifteen cairns, eight animal shelters and two poorly constructed structures, all of which lie within an extensive network of fields and walls. An iron smelting site (KE079-117----) occurs at its W end. The complex was investigated by O’Kelly in the early 1950s and two houses, a cairn and an animal shelter were fully excavated. The following description of the site is based on the report of these excavations (O’Kelly 1956, 159-94). Houses: (7-8) The foundations of two roughly rectangular houses (O'Kelly's Houses 6 (KE079-031012-) and 7 (KE079-031013-)), are located adjacent to one another on the W side of Canroe. A hand-carved stone bowl, probably of Viking type, was discovered in 1959 about 3m NE of House (7) (O'Kelly 1961a, 64-8). 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. 1132. 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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