a glacial erratic’. It is nearly four feet high and worked into the shape of a domed pillar, cylindrical and with a domed cap. Raferty describes it as ‘decorated with an asymmetrical series of double interlocking spirals, trumpet designs, circles and meandering curves, motives which continue downwards on the cylindrical portion of the stone. Near the base is a narrow band with a step-pattern, or “Wall of Troy” design.’
Professor Michael V. Duignan, from Galway University, in his analysis of the stone’s designs compared it to British La Tène art, in particular to the British mirror style. Although there are five examples of this form of La Tène art in Ireland, the stone seems to be of Irish manufacture. A similar design can be found on the gold collar from Broighter in Co. Derry. It has been suggested that an old Atlantic route between France and Ireland in the second and first centuries BC may have been the conduit which introduced these highly decorative stones. A Breton craftsman may even have chiselled the great Turoe stone.
Three islands – Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer – collectively known as the Aran Islands [51] lie in a north-east to south-west direction about ten miles off the coast of Galway. The name Aran comes from the Irish word ara meaning kidney, which probably refers to their shape. Inishmore (Inis Mór, ‘big island’), the largest of the islands, is about eight miles long by two-and-a-half miles wide, though its width is less than a mile at some points. The population of Inishmore is about 900, while that of Inishmaan (Inis Meáin, ‘the middle island’) is around 160 and Inisheer (Inis Oírr or Inis Oirthir, ‘east island’) about 260. Irish is the main language spoken on the islands.
FIGURE 4. Dún Aengus on Inishmore.
The most distinctive feature of the islands is the plate of limestone covering them, which is a continuation of the limestone lands of the Burren in north Clare and south Galway. This carboniferous limestone, in which many fossils can be seen, was the muddy base of the Atlantic Ocean about 300 million years ago.
The great fort of Dún Aengus on Inishmore is the most striking of all the monuments on the islands. It stands on the edge of a vertical cliff more than 300 feet above the Atlantic. It has an inner enclosure which contains a rectangular platform of limestone. This platform is central to how one ‘sees’ Dún Aengus. There are four enclosures or ramparts surrounding Dún Aengus and there is a chevaux-de-frise (upright protective stones) between the third and fourth ramparts. For many archaeologists, though not all, Dún Aengus is seen as a fortress. The ‘outer wall’ presumably fell into the sea. The contention that the monument was a fortress is backed up by the presence of the defensive chevaux-de-frise.
However, if the wall did not fall into the sea and the chevaux-de-frise was merely for reasons of prestige, then what you see is a magnificent amphitheatre, with terraces for sitting and a platform or raised structure for ceremonial celebration, where celebrants looked out to sea and the setting sun to the sound of Bronze Age horns and drums. A probable time for these ceremonies was mid-summer during the Late Bronze Age. This raised platform is a ceremonial site of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age for the ritual of mating and harmony. When I was lecturing in Dublin, I brought foreign exchange students from Europe and America to this site and we were joined by Simon O’Dwyer, the Irish expert on Bronze and Iron Age horns, and his wife Maria who plays the bodhrán, a leather drum. After a brief talk on the site from the platform, Simon and Maria played Bronze Age music. When they finished, we were surprised by the arrival of a group of women who sang many old songs in Irish and continued singing while the sun went down, leaving in its train a long, golden pathway to the distant horizon.
Because of its outstanding presence, Dún Aengus has a continuous stream of tourists. If one wishes to see a lesser and quieter version of the great monument, one should begin one’s Aran experience at the promontory fort on Inishmore known as Dún Duchathair. Being less known, it is peaceful and spectacular in its own way, surrounded as it is on both sides by the sea, with magnificent views.
Inishmore can be comfortably explored by foot. A half hour’s walk in a westerly direction from Kilronan will bring you to Cowragh. Here, you take a boreen signposted for Teampall an Ceathrar Alainn (‘the church of the four beautiful women’). Head south along this path and you will come to a megalithic tomb known as the Eochaill Wedge Tomb, which is about 4,000 years old. It is locally known as the Bed of Diarmuid* and Grainne.*
Return then to the main road and walk about one mile to the beach at Kilmurvey, and continue along the road for about half a mile until you come to a crossroads; here turn right and walk a short distance to Clochán na Carraige, a rectangular stone-built hut in good condition with a corbelled roof and two entrances. Whether it was a retreat house for the Seven Churches nearby remains a moot point.
FIGURE 5. Simon O’Dwyer playing a reconstruction of the Loughnashade trumpa at the Technological University Dublin, watched by Etienne Rynne and Helene Conway. In the background are sculptures by John Behan inspired by the Táin.
The Irish Church has many connections with Arainn; at the centre of this is the Community of Enda (Teaghlach Einne), a ninth-century church at the beach end of a large graveyard at Killeany, about a mile south-east of Kilronan. Traditionally the Aran Islands were known as Ara na Naomh (Aran of the Saints), and many of these saints are buried on Inishmore. A half-mile walk uphill from Teaglach Einne to Teampall Bheanain will bring you past the stump of a round tower, several wells, and a Mass rock, and at Teampall Bheanain (St Benin, a disciple of St Patrick) you can see the extent of the monastic settlement. St Enda’s Church and later a Franciscan friary were demolished by Cromwellian forces in the middle of the seventeenth century, and the stones were used to build Arkin Fort, also known as Castle Arkin. These same stones eventually found a new lease of life when local houses were built. A disciple of St Enda, St Ciaran, had his monastery at Mainistir Chiarain. Within the church grounds is a standing stone which has a sundial.
Aran has a fine legacy of poets and writers. Máirtín Ó Direáin, wrote solely in Irish while Liam O’Flaherty wrote both in Irish and English, his notable work in Irish being Duil (‘instinct’) and in English, The Informer and The Famine. A lesser-known but interesting writer is Pat Mullen, whose most noted work is Hero Breed about the fishing community in Killeany in the 1930s. The American director Robert Flaherty made the famous drama documentary Man of Aran in the 1930s, using only local actors.
The writer most associated with Inishmaan is the playwright John Millington Synge. He went there at the behest of Yeats to learn Irish and to establish a literary tradition based on the speech he heard everyday on the island. Synge visited the island between 1898 and 1902 and integrated with the community, attending weddings and funerals, and was also witness to an eviction. Synge’s plays avoided a patronising manner and described life as it was experienced by the islanders. He thus elevated the people from being stage characters to being vivid, recognisable people.
Dún Chonchuir is the largest stone fort on Inishmaan. Synge often came here to smoke and relax. It is a fine, oval stone enclosure possibly dating from early historical times and has several ruined stone huts on the inside. The fort has a dominant view of the island. It measures about 200 feet east–west and over 100 feet north–south, and has two terraces on the inside. It may be named after Conchuir, a brother of Aengus, who probably gave his name to the great fort on Inishmore; according to legend, they were the two sons of Umor, a chief of the Fir Bolg,* and had fled to the Aran Islands after the defeat of the Fir Bolg of Connacht. On the south-east coast of the island is a place named Leaba Chonchuir (‘Conchuir’s bed’), a natural rock bridge. Another fine fort is Dún Fearbai, perhaps similar in age to Dún Chonchuir. It gets its name from the local area, An Fhearbach, meaning abounding in cows.
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