Brendan Roots

On my way to the Brendan celebrations in south Kerry in May I thought I should call into Ardfert,   Brendan’s first settlement. After a short time there he set off by boat from Kerry to Scotland and out into the north Atlantic in 512.

What remains on the site today reveals little of Brendan. There is the skeleton of a cathedral with his name on the site but it was built in the 12th century, long after his time. The Office of Public Works has done its best to restore the building and attract visitors. They draw attention to its thirteenth-century window and nine narrow lancets in the south wall. There are also two small churches on the site, one an excellent example of late Romanesque architecture and the other, Temple na Griffin, has the carving of a griffin and a dragon conjoined.

However my interest was in Brendan and nothing remains of his original foundation. A heap of stones mark where a Round Tower once stood and the earlier church would have been close by.  

Inside the cathedral entrance, display boards gives an idea of how Brendan’s community would have looked like. A few days later, by chance, I came across the place that inspired the drawings.  It was the recently rediscovered monastic site at Reasc near Ballyferriter. Its cloghans (stone beehive huts) can still be found across south Kerry but the layout of the site at Reasc goes back to the Brendan era.   

The simplicity of the early dwellings there is in striking contrast to the ruins of the large 12th century Roman cathedral on the site today. However, it was its very plainness that must have attracted the curiosity of the local people. The cloghans and the enclosing stone walls would be familiar features but the men who lived there quietly, dedicated, educated and uninterested in the usual worldly ambitions, presented a challenging attitude to life that people in a warrior-hero society could admire.   

The OPW’s introduction to the site helped clarify my thinking for what I was to see in the ‘Brendan Country’ further south.

However I got my best insight into Brendan and the world in which he lived sooner than I expected. It was when I came across ‘Wethers Well’, Tobar na Molt, just a few miles from Ardfert.  I am still trying to unravel my impressions there.  More on that unforgettable visit later.