SUNDAY MAY 3, 2009: BALLYVAUGHAN
ST. MAC DUAGH’S HERMITAGE AT KEELHILLA
Today was the day that I was to meet Sheena Meagher for an excursion to St. Colman Mac Duagh’s Hermitage at Keelhilla. We arranged for her to collect me in Ballyvaughan at the Spar at 1:00. I arrived at the Spar early so I could purchase a sandwich at their deli for my lunch. It was lightly raining while I was in the Spar, but it soon stopped and the sun came out. I ate my sandwich in the little terrace area in front of the Spar. When I finished, I still had some time before Sheena was to come by so I went into the village shop just behind the Spar and purchased the John O’Donohue book, Eternal Echos, Great Britain: Bantam Books, 1998. I sat in the sunshine and read from it while I waited for Sheena.
She soon arrived and our first stop was the petrol station. After the car was fueled up she got out the map to find the best way to get to our destination. We drove out of Ballyvaughan on the Galway road, soon we passed Muckinish Castle – Sheena pulled off the road to do some photography. I took this opportunity to photography the Battle Field of Suidaine where Conor O’Brien was killed in 1268. A stone effigy of Conor O’Brien is in Corcomroe – it is said that the monks of Corcomroe came into the battlefield and brought his body back to the monastery to be buried.
Location of the Battle of Suidaine of 1268
We drove on through New Quay and Bell Harbor. We followed the signs to the Burren Perfumery and stopped. We, again, took the map out to check our bearings and were off down the road to Keelhilla. John M. Feehan describes this drive in his book The Secret Places of the Burren. Ballinlough, Cork: Royal Carberry Books, 1987.
“As you continue on your journey along this road which twists and turns, rises and falls, you are really in another secret place of the Burren. Sometimes you drive through a glacial valley, hemmed in on all sides, other times the hazel seems to close around you like a tunnel of trees, other times there is nothing around you but the bare desolate landscape of the Burren. On this road I have often had the feeling that the landscape itself was in some way alive and moving. Was it possible that some power in my mind and tuned into the rotation of the earth?”
Keelhilla
We came to a turn-off that had a small car park. We climbed over the stile and walked the path through the fields and limestone pavement to find the place of St. Mac Duagh’s Hermitage. I’ve included this information from Carleton Jones’ book The Burren & The Aran Islands: Exploring The Archaeology. Doughcloyne, Wilton, Cork: The Collins Press, 2004 to describe the history of the place:
“Part of the early monastic tradition in Ireland was the practice of retiring from the world to a hermitage. Favored locations for hermitages included offshore islands such as Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast and islands in lakes. Other remote locations, however, were also used and St. Mac Duagh’s hermitage at the base of the cliffs of Keelhilla, on the remote and barren eastern edge of the cliffs of the Burren, is a good example of an inland hermitage.
“Tradition tells us that here, in a small cave at the base of the cliff, St. Colman Mac Duagh meditated, prayed and fasted for seven years. One day his servant complained that he was hungry and St. Mac Duagh replied that God would provide. There was a banquet at the time in King Guaire’s castle in Kinvarra and at that moment the dishes of food suddenly rose and floated out the window. The surprised king and his men followed the dishes and were led to St. Mac Duagh and his servant. But when the king’s party arrived at the hermitage their feet became rooted to the stone and they couldn’t move. Luckily for the king and his men, St. Mac Duagh was able to perform a miracle and free them. Whereupon the king was so impressed with St. Mac Duagh he asked him to found the monastery of Kilmacduagh on the lowlands near Gort. While this was taking place St. Mac Duagh’s servant was eating King Guaire’s food with gusto but unfortunately had grown so accustomed to the meager diet he received in the service of Mac Duagh that the rich banquet food killed him. These traditions are preserved to this day in the name of the track that leads to the hermitage, Bothat na meisel, of “way of the dishes”, and in the nearby “Grave of the Saint’s Servant”.”
Kilmacduagh Monastery near Gort
Sheena had been here before and she led the way. The air was cool and there was a fierce wind blowing as we walked the open field and through the limestone pavement to the site of the hermitage ruin. We walked on a pathway that wound through the fields and limestone that was not wide enough for any kind of car or truck. Sheena told me that it was very old and was created long ago. By the description of Carleton Jones – we were walking of the “way of the dishes”.
"Way of the dishes"
We were up on a plateau of sorts and from the view we could see that we were up quite high on the mountain. We walked on and as the ground began to rise again, the path led us to a wooded area of hazel and ferns. We could hear the sound of water flowing, and followed the sound – stepping over stones and around hazel bushes to a stream just below Mac Duagh’s well.
View when walking the "way of the dishes"
The foliage here was very green and thick – soft moss covered many of the stones and trees. Near the well was a rag tree with colorful ribbons and pieces of cloth tied on it. Just up the bank from the well was a ruin of St. Mac Duagh’s Oratory and two free standing altars.
The holy well of St. Mac Duagh
We climbed a little higher to St. Mac Duagh’s Bed (cave). I went inside, it was small but dry and comfortable. In this wooded area the air was still and quiet – the hazel wood and the moss covered stone was a natural shelter from the cold wind. A very peaceful place, no wonder St. Mac Duagh choose this place to meditate and pray.
Sheena Meagher at St. Mac Duagh's Bed (cave)
Sheena and I decided we would climb around on the steep, wooded and moss covered hillside to find a place to settle and enjoy the quiet. Sheena found a place immediately; I climbed a little higher and sat on a moss-covered boulder of limestone and enjoyed the peaceful beauty. The moss was very thick and dry; sitting on it was like sitting on a very comfortable cushion.
Hazel wood at the hermitage
Ruin of St. Mac Duagh's Oratory
The peacefulness did not last. This was a bank holiday weekend and many people were visiting the Burren and soon we had company. One family had a dog with them and the dog decided that it wanted to continually bark at Sheena. I started climbing down and met her climbing up – probably trying to escape the noise of the dog barking. We found a nice place on the large stony outcrop immediately above the cave where I found some hazel nuts in the moss next to where I was sitting.
When we decided to turn back we headed back down to the ruins and we found a man sitting crossed legged on the stone altar in the oratory talking on his cell phone – I wonder what St. Mac Duagh would have to say about that? On our walk back to the car we found one lonely Bloody Cranesbill in the grass, we both photographed it.
THE FLAGGY SHORE
Our next stop was New Quay to have dinner and then a walk on the Flaggy Shore. We stopped at Linnane’s Lobster Bar for coffee and an early dinner. We both ordered the Baked Crab, which was served with salad and brown bread. After we left Linnane’s we walked down the Flaggy Shore.
The Flaggy Shore
Walking the Flaggy Shore road
