Oratory
In the summer of 1974, I made a grand tour of Ireland. It took me six weeks. Mostly I slept in the tent that I carried upon my back but sometimes I shelled out for youth hostels and three or four times I paid for B&B accommodation. I got around by simply walking or hitch-hiking. I didn't have much money. I remember reaching The Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry and though I don't recall my exact route, I left the town of Dingle, heading north for two or three miles. That's when, purely by chance, I came across the structure shown above - Gallarus Oratory. This enigmatic building was more or less overlooked by scholars until the mid-eighteenth century. It is likely that it was once a simple church - exquisitely built perhaps as early as the tenth century. It may have been part of a monastic settlement. I was alone but then I saw another figure tramping along the lane. He was a Canadian visitor - also a university student of a similar age to me. I don't recall...