Murreagh

I guess it's already pretty obvious that Ireland is dotted with old stuff. Earlier this same day, we had stopped to wander through an old ring fort that was hanging on the edge of cliffs over the Atlantic. We had visited restored beehive stone huts built back when western Christianity was pretty much limited to monks perched on rocks on the west coast of Ireland.

The Gallarus Oratory is old, but not necessarily as old as the local tour guides sometimes suggest. Maybe it goes back the 6th century. But it might have been built in the 12th century. And maybe it dates to the 1700s. It's not altogether clear. But it's a cool building, whatever its vintage and its function.

The old church at Kilmalkedar does date to the 12th century and the site may go back much farther. In addition, there are old stones in the churchyard that predate the Romanesque church by more than 500 years.

It''s a short drive back over the hill into Dingle.