Early Irish pilgrim archaeology in the Dingle Peninsula

Abstract

Abstract Early Irish pilgrimage sites are documented through pilgrims’ deaths there as early as the seventh century AD. Though not included among them, the Dingle Peninsula provides a microcosm of most stone monument types which may be associated with early Irish pilgrimage: Saint's Road, tomb‐shrine, Ogham stones, slabs bearing a cross of arcs, bullaun stones, Romanesque church, sun‐dial, beehive huts and boat‐shaped oratories. On the peninsula, pilgrimage in honour of St Brendan was undertaken to Mount Brandon, a view of which must have been important in the choice of monument location. The main approach to the holy mountain was from the Atlantic Ocean end of the peninsula, showing that pilgrims must have come by sea. Maritime pilgrimage to islands along the west coast of Ireland and beyond must be postulated, and St Brendan's voyage, described as a peregrinado in the Navigatio Brendani, should be seen as a literary reflection of it.