Dun Aengus, Inishmore: view up from Kilmurvy
View up towards the hillfort of Dun Aengus from the hamlet of Kilmurvy, on the island of Inishmore in the Aran Islands (County Galway, off the coast of western Ireland), on a mostly cloudy morning in mid-September 2013.
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, from the side beyond what is visible here. (Information from the panels at the site's Visitor Centre, provided by Heritage Ireland.)
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.
[Dun Aengus walk view up from Kilmurvy hamlet 2013 sep 18 p; P1040204]
Dun Aengus, Inishmore: view up from Kilmurvy
View up towards the hillfort of Dun Aengus from the hamlet of Kilmurvy, on the island of Inishmore in the Aran Islands (County Galway, off the coast of western Ireland), on a mostly cloudy morning in mid-September 2013.
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, from the side beyond what is visible here. (Information from the panels at the site's Visitor Centre, provided by Heritage Ireland.)
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.
[Dun Aengus walk view up from Kilmurvy hamlet 2013 sep 18 p; P1040204]