January 14, 2011
This morning we went to the study cottage at 10:00am for our walking/bus tour of the Renvyle Peninsula with Dave Hogan, our tour guide. The first sight we saw on the tour was the Renvyle Castle. One of the myths as to how it was destroyed was that the mother of the man who was living in the castle took her army and from sea fired at the castle because he son had betrayed her. Dave Hogan also told us other versions of how the castle fell apart and turned into ruins.
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| Land divided with stone walls |
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| Graveyard |
From there we went to a local grave yard which is centered around the tale of the seven sisters/daughters buried in it. I did not get the full story because in the middle of Dave’s speech it down-poured on us and turned into hail for a little while. As we were walking along the hillside and the landscape, we saw the plots of land that have been subdivided and given to the various farmers. The land is separated by stone walls throughout the countryside, it is truly breathtaking. We also stopped alongside the bog and Dave told us the history of how the bog was created and that the farming that was done on it 3,000+ years ago is the direct cause of why the land went from having trees to a bog not sustainable for trees. He told us about the “bog bodies” because the acid in the bog preserves things. He was able to find part of a tree that had been preserved from 3,000 years ago! It was fascinating to hold something that old.
After that, we went and saw two different 6,000 year old burial grounds from the neolitic era. One of the tombs was in the middle of shared farming ground with horses roaming around and the other was on the ocean coast. Once again to be up so close and personal with something so old that has managed to stand the test of time is remarkable. I feel as though in America anything that has significance is roped off and we are charged an admission fee to see it. As Dave Hogan so beautifully said “In Ireland, the land is a textbook.” Everything you would want to know can be found in the landscape and it is so cool to see how integrated history and the present are. The people truly live with the memory of those before them.
This morning we went to the study cottage at 10:00am for our walking/bus tour of the Renvyle Peninsula with Dave Hogan, our tour guide. The first sight we saw on the tour was the Renvyle Castle. One of the myths as to how it was destroyed was that the mother of the man who was living in the castle took her army and from sea fired at the castle because he son had betrayed her. Dave Hogan also told us other versions of how the castle fell apart and turned into ruins. 
After that, we went and saw two different 6,000 year old burial grounds from the neolitic era. One of the tombs was in the middle of shared farming ground with horses roaming around and the other was on the ocean coast. Once again to be up so close and personal with something so old that has managed to stand the test of time is remarkable. I feel as though in America anything that has significance is roped off and we are charged an admission fee to see it. As Dave Hogan so beautifully said “In Ireland, the land is a textbook.” Everything you would want to know can be found in the landscape and it is so cool to see how integrated history and the present are. The people truly live with the memory of those before them. 
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