Dun Aengus, Inishmore: view of Kilmurvy & Galway Bay
View down towards Galway Bay from Dun Aengus hillfort, on the island of Inishmore in the Aran Islands (County Galway, off the coast of western Ireland), as the sun begins to break through cloud and haze on a midday in mid-September 2013.
The hamlet of Kilmurvy lies below Dun Aengus (which is mostly behind the camera in this view). In the background, north of the bay, some of the mountains of Connemara can be seen.
Inishmore -- in Irish, Inis Mhór or Inis Mór ("Big Island") or, more officially, Árainn -- is, as its name implies, the largest of the Aran Islands (Irish: Oileáin Árann). It is the most easily accessible, as well. Despite the availability of flights and a ferry, however, it still retains an aura of separateness as well as the local Aran dialect, customs, and traditions.
In Irish, the mostly prehistoric hillfort's name is Dún Aonghasa. It is thought to have been constructed in more than one stage, beginning in the Late Bronze Age (LBA) primarily during the Iron Age and early medieval period -- from approximately 1100 BC to 500 BC, with subsequent changes up to the late first millennium AD. Like the modern walls, it was built using drystone walls. It is one of a number of prehistoric fortified sites on the Aran Islands; it is also the best known, both for its size and for its precipitous location at the top of a cliff that plunges into the Atlantic Ocean. (Information from the panels at the site's Visitor Centre, provided by Heritage Ireland, which manages the site).
Geologically, the Aran Islands are a continuation of the limestone karst landscape of the Burren, which is on mainland Ireland to the east. Their thin soil has been laboriously built up by hand to create small fields, which are typically separated by drystone walls (walls built without mortar, just stones).
(Please note: The Flickr map identification of the county as "Clare" is incorrect. While the Aran Islands are indeed close to the mainland of County Clare, which is east of the islands, they are administratively part of County Galway, which is north of them.)
[Dun Aengus Kilmurvy Galway Bay Bens in haze 2013 sep 18 c; IMG_3778]
Dun Aengus, Inishmore: view of Kilmurvy & Galway Bay
View down towards Galway Bay from Dun Aengus hillfort, on the island of Inishmore in the Aran Islands (County Galway, off the coast of western Ireland), as the sun begins to break through cloud and haze on a midday in mid-September 2013.
The hamlet of Kilmurvy lies below Dun Aengus (which is mostly behind the camera in this view). In the background, north of the bay, some of the mountains of Connemara can be seen.
Inishmore -- in Irish, Inis Mhór or Inis Mór ("Big Island") or, more officially, Árainn -- is, as its name implies, the largest of the Aran Islands (Irish: Oileáin Árann). It is the most easily accessible, as well. Despite the availability of flights and a ferry, however, it still retains an aura of separateness as well as the local Aran dialect, customs, and traditions.
In Irish, the mostly prehistoric hillfort's name is Dún Aonghasa. It is thought to have been constructed in more than one stage, beginning in the Late Bronze Age (LBA) primarily during the Iron Age and early medieval period -- from approximately 1100 BC to 500 BC, with subsequent changes up to the late first millennium AD. Like the modern walls, it was built using drystone walls. It is one of a number of prehistoric fortified sites on the Aran Islands; it is also the best known, both for its size and for its precipitous location at the top of a cliff that plunges into the Atlantic Ocean. (Information from the panels at the site's Visitor Centre, provided by Heritage Ireland, which manages the site).
Geologically, the Aran Islands are a continuation of the limestone karst landscape of the Burren, which is on mainland Ireland to the east. Their thin soil has been laboriously built up by hand to create small fields, which are typically separated by drystone walls (walls built without mortar, just stones).
(Please note: The Flickr map identification of the county as "Clare" is incorrect. While the Aran Islands are indeed close to the mainland of County Clare, which is east of the islands, they are administratively part of County Galway, which is north of them.)
[Dun Aengus Kilmurvy Galway Bay Bens in haze 2013 sep 18 c; IMG_3778]