We completed our tour of Slea Head with visits to the Louis Mulcahy pottery studio and the Gallarus Oratory. The oratory, built in the 6th or 7th century, is thought to be an early Christian church. Except for a sagging roof, the oratory remains in remarkably good condition despite (or because of) the fact that its builders used no mortar in its construction, instead adopting a technique known as corbeling. According to wikipedia, corbeling offsets
successive courses of stone at the springline of the walls so that they project towards the archway's center from each supporting side, until the courses meet at the apex of the archway...Back in town, we strolled along the wharf before having dinner at Doyle's, where we each ate a traditional Kerry seafood pie, an amalgam of local catch stewed in a white roux of seafood stock and baked in a "crust" of mashed potatoes.
On our way out of town the next morning, we stumbled across the ruins of Minaurd Castle while searching for a holy well. The structure is not locked off, so we made our way inside the walls, which had pretty much been taken over by plant life. What stories could those castle walls tell?
Country blues...
200 guitars...
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