First are the hidden sights of The Burren, which is a lunar landscape in north west Clare. Its desolate limestone contours change colour in the light as the day progresses, from blue to purple to white. Many international films have been made here, like Harry Potter and Asterix, and many Irish films like “Into the West”. There is nothing more beautiful than the moon rising over the white limestone behind Fanore beach.
Hidden in its cracks and valleys and hard to find (I always get lost) are the ruined monastic settlements of a form of Christianity that arrived before St. Patrick. This Celtic Christianity came up from the west by sea from Egypt where it was first developed by Copts in the desert around Tabennesi in 318AD. By the 5th Century it was flourishing in Ireland. An 11th century manuscript in Dublin describes “7 Egyptian monks who lived in Disert Vilaig on the west coast of Ireland”. The Copts are also taught about these 7monks in their tradition. Disert, as an Irish place name means “remote” or desert. Some Irish surnames like Fahy are also Coptic surnames. So the northern wastelends of Ireland were linked with the southern wastelands of Egypt by strings of monastic settlements.
These communities were independent and not centralised, often a days journey from each other. While some members were celebate, others were not, and whole families lived together, congregating around a revered teacher, a “collegiate” system still practiced in the collegiate system of Oxford and Cambridge today. They were recognised for their learning, their libraries and scriptoriums where books like The Book of Kells or Durrow were housed. Their calligraphy and knotwork is reminiscent of Coptic art. Both traditions show a love of life and Nature, a keen observation of their surroundings and a wry sense of humour. Its these communities that sent out educators to the rest of Europe, still languishing in the dark ages. They were constantly travelling, exchanging ideas and experiences. The Book of Kells is now in Dublin in Trinity College Library.
The Copts and Celts shared a form of Christianity derived from St Mark, not the St Peter of Roman Catholicism, focusing on the humanity of Jesus, not his divinity. It wasn’t about military might and tight centralised control. It was dispersed and about discourse. There was no infant baptism because there was no concept of original sin. They embraced Life without fear of death. Their leaders are depicted with the Tau shaped staff instead of the catholic crozier. In Ireland they preferred white robes and wore their hair long behind a tonsure shaved back to the earline, reminiscent of the Druids who had preceded them on the island. Their “saints” were learned men like sheiks, chosen by the community, not centrally ordained by anyone. They prayed with palms uplifted, like the copts and muslims, not closed together. Their churchyards are full of the celtic wheel/cross which originated in Egypt on Coptic graves, reminiscent of the ankh as symbol of Life. They had a 9th century equivalent to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, called St Brendan Voyages to the Island of the Blest. They believed in re-incarnation and the pre-existence of soul.
This Celtic Christianity is as little known as their settlements. By the 11Century it had vanished, largely because The Synod of Whitby had declared it heretical. From then on Roman Catholicism dominated and the monks moved on, finding other places to teach like Southern France.
However it’s still here in a way, to re-fresh us, hidden for the finding, places of power and refuge. Whatever the weather, these sites seem encapsulated in tranquillity, full of the sounds of Nature, a strange enduring energy.
Below,this 11Century Romanesque doorway at Dysert O’dea, proves how well the monks travelled ,recording faces and animals from all over their known world, from the far east to the far west. Everyone is represented here, universal, no exclusion, all can enter through this door. Its a nice image. Dysert O’dea began in the 8Century as a community around Saint Tola. The site is spread around and not centralised, hidden in lush wooded valleys with whispering winds.
Kilmacdough is another monastic settlement scattered around several churches, again not centralised and very peaceful. Its a place that seems to trap and amplify sounds. Here you find one of the Round Towers unique to Ireland and described in Yeats poems as watchtowers. They are also the Rapunzel Towers of the fairy tale, though Rapunzels golden hair is really the monks gold treasure hoarded at the top. They were built as places of refuge from the invading Vikings. Once inside the monks lifted up the ladder and there was no means of entry because the door is over 26feet up, so “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, lay down your golden hair”! This tower is 111ft high, the tallest in Ireland, and leaning 2 feet from the perpendicular. This may be why it fills me with dread every time I visit. Its an ingenious form of defence isn’t it, but it didn’t save them.
