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<< Our Photo Pages >> Gallarus Oratory - Ancient Temple in Ireland (Republic of) in Co. Kerry

Submitted by Sunny100 on Monday, 18 October 2010  Page Views: 6449

Multi-periodSite Name: Gallarus Oratory Alternative Name: Gallarus Church
Country: Ireland (Republic of) County: Co. Kerry Type: Ancient Temple
Nearest Town: Dingle  Nearest Village: Gallarus
Map Ref: Q392049
Latitude: 52.172954N  Longitude: 10.351237W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4 Ambience: 4.67 Access: 4.67

The Gallarus Oratory
The Gallarus Oratory submitted by swatson : History Gallery The enigmatic Gallarus Oratory on the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry, Ireland. The date of it's construction is a matter for debate: some scholars put it around 600AD and others as late as 1200AD. Not pre-historic, but interesting. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Dark Age Building. Gallarus Oratory is located a short distance to the W of the village, overlooking the Ard na Caithe harbour, Dingle Peninsula.

Gallarus Oratory (Church of the Foreigners) dates from the 8th century CE. A small oratory or church built without any mortar, it is built like an up-turned boat out of nicely shaped stones, three and a half feet thick, and all neatly fitted together. There is a tiny window and a narrow door (5ft 6' high). Inside, the building measures 10x15 feet and has corbel-style vaulting.

It is in quite excellent condition despite it's age and, due to it's shape and style of building, it has been well protected from the elements. Some historians think this is the best preserved example in Ireland and perhaps also the oldest church in Ireland. Certainly it is a very interesting little building and just looking at it you might think of similar buildings with sloping walls out in the east - for example the pyramids at Giza. That and the oratories ridged roof may have something to do with cosmic energy and other spiritual significance.

The Journal of Antiquities also features a page for this ancient church - see their entry for the Gallarus Oratory, Co.Kerry, Southern Ireland, which includes a photograph and background information. The Oratory also has its own web page which can be found at the Gallarus Oratory Visitor Centre webpage. The Visitor Centre is open daily from Easter to October and on request during the off season. Visit their webpage for the email address and telephone number.
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Gallarus Oratory
Gallarus Oratory submitted by GaelicLaird : The enclosure walls and the oratory. Photo taken August 2021. (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Gallarus Oratory
Gallarus Oratory submitted by GaelicLaird : Cross-slab stone. Photo taken August 2021. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Gallarus Oratory
Gallarus Oratory submitted by AngieLake : Gallarus Oratory photographed in 2001 or 2002[?]. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Gallarus Oratory
Gallarus Oratory submitted by Sunny100 : B/w image of the interior of Gallarus Oratory near Dingle, which measures 10x15 feet. The little church, which at times looks like an eastern-style temple, is said to date from the 8th century CE. It has a tiny window and a narrow door. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Gallarus Oratory
Gallarus Oratory submitted by Sunny100 : A colourful view of the Gallarus Oratory near Dingle, dating from the 8th century CE.

Gallarus Oratory
Gallarus Oratory submitted by GaelicLaird : The Leacht and Cross-slab in the foreground and to the left of the oratory when looking at the entrance. Photo taken August 2021.

Gallarus Oratory
Gallarus Oratory submitted by AngieLake : An early-Christian stone stood nearby. (Excuse state of image, but fault with camera, letting in light back in early '00s.)

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Re: Gallarus Oratory by GaelicLaird on Wednesday, 08 September 2021
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The Gallarus Oratory site (Sáipéilín Ghallarais) is situated on the lower NW slopes of Lateevemore, overlooking the broad crescent of land that surrounds Smerwick Harbour. The site consists of a large stone walled ecclesiastical enclosure within which are the oratory, a leacht and a cross-slab.

The site is easily accessible from the road and has good wheelchair access.

Ecclesiastical enclosure, officially recorded as monument number KE042-071001-:
The enclosure measures c. 36m NE-SW x c. 44m NW-SE internally, but the W half of its outline is no longer traceable. It may originally have been oval or sub-circular in plan. The drystone enclosing wall stands to a maximum height of 1.3m and averages c. 1.3m in thickness but, though it preserves the line of the original wall, it may have undergone rebuilding and repair due to its maintenance as a field boundary and due to the use of its N section as a boundary between the townlands of Gallarus and Ballynana.

An internal dividing wall isolates the SE sector, containing the oratory, leacht and cross-slab, from the remainder. This, too, was in use in the 19th century as a field boundary (2nd edition OS map). The area to E of it raised slightly above the remainder of the interior and the wall stands to a maximum height of .95m on its E side and 1.2m on its W side. Access is now provided by a modern stile at about its mid-point. At the same point, a low footing projects .26m out from the E side of the wall, for a distance of about 1.8m. The function of the short length of walling that extends W from the dividing wall is not clear.

Gallarus Oratory, officially recorded as monument number KE042-071004-:
Situated at the E side of the enclosure is the well-known 'boat-shaped' oratory, the only perfect example of its type to survive in Ireland. The building measures 6.86m x 5.74m externally. It rests on a stone plinth, c. 0.21m wide, which forms a continuous course along the N, E and S walls but rises to a slightly higher level on the W gable, where it is interrupted by the doorway.

The walls are built of sandstone rubble; the external facing stones and neatly angled quoins, bedded at a slight tilt, are bevelled to give a weathered surface to the exterior. A slight sag is visible on the exterior in the centre of the N and S walls. Internally the walls are dressed to a fairly flat finish up to a height of c. 1.7m; above this the stonework has been wrought to achieve the remarkably smooth line of the corbelled vault. As the fabric of the wall is nowhere exposed in its entirety, it is not clear whether the lime mortar visible in the interior was used merely as an 'internal pointing' to the stonework (Leask 1955, 23), or was more extensively utilized as 'a structural medium' for the interior of the wall (Harbison 1970, 43).

The pointed inner vault, now exhibiting a slight deflection in cross-section, is closed by flat flags 3.95m above floor level. Externally the ridge line is capped by triangular stones partly restored by the OPW. The inward curve of the gable walls is less marked at this site than at the nearby St. Brendan's oratory (KE042-020----).

The oratory measures 4.65m x 3.15m internally and the walls are c. 1 to 1.2m in thickness. The E gable is pierced by a round-headed window, 1m high internally, with splayed ingoings and inclining jambs. The deeply-plunging sill debouches on the exterior face .4m above the inner sill. The external ope is .37m in height and has a round head carved from 2 stones, one of which continues through to the inner face. A broken stone in the wall face immediately above the window may once have formed a hood. The round head on the interior, skilfully wrought from 3 stones, was accommodated to the slightly narrower width of the embrasure by a shallow offset dying into the soffit c. midway through the ope. Three corbels projecting from the internal face of the E gable, above the level of the window, may have supported a pendant lamp o

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