Before it became famous as a
location for Star Wars, Sceilig Mhichíl and Sceilig Bheag were simply inhospitable rocks 10km off the Irish coast, one populated by seabirds and seals, the other somehow sustaining generations of Irish monks in beehive cells that have withstood the Irish weather for a thousand years. It must have been a grim existence, between hunger, rain, Viking raids and the sheer drop that awaited.
I went out there from the lovely Port Magee on a wet, stormy day - even the skipper muttered that perhaps we shouldn't have set out, but it was one of the most magical experiences of my life. How the monks got out there in rowing boats is a wonder - even by fishing smack it was a rocky, long, scary experience. I'd love to go back on a sunny day. It must be a hugely different experience, especially now the prices have doubled and everyone else is wearing a toga and toting a light-sabre.
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| Pretty much how the monks would have got there |
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| The graveyard |
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