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The Skellig Islands rise abruptly and forbiddingly from the sea. Little Skellig is a sanctuary for some 40,000 gannets and landing is not permitted but, if you are able and willing to negotiate a ladder set into its harbour wall, you can visit Great Skellig, or Skellig Michael as it's also known. Another steep climb, on steps carved out of the solid rock, leads to a remarkable cluster of ecclesiastical ruins, the arched stone remains of St Fionan's Abbey (560 AD), a somewhat larger church dating back to the 10th century, several burial enclosures, some rough-hewn crosses and two wells. The most evocative remains, though, are the six distinctive beehive cells in which monks of the Dark Ages passed an appropriately murky existence. It's difficult to credit that these neat and intricate drystone constructions have survived almost a millennium and a half of onslaughts from Atlantic gales. The cliffs of Great Skellig rise some 700 feet and it was from their awful summit that St Patrick drove the last venomous snakes of Ireland into the sea.

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Additional Photos by Leonie von Hausen (Leonie) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 902 W: 50 N: 816] (8627)
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