Sights in Glendalough
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Glendalough Visitor Centre
At the valley entrance, before the Glendalough Hotel, is Glendalough Visitor Centre. It has a high-quality 17-minute audiovisual presentation called Ireland of the Monasteries, which does exactly what it says on the tin.
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St Kieran's Church
A little to the east are the scant remains of St Kieran's Church, the smallest at Glendalough.
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Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul
Near the round tower, to the southeast, is the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul with a 10th-century nave. The chancel and sacristy date from the 12th century.
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St Saviour's Church
The road east leads to St Saviour's Church , with its detailed Romanesque carvings. To the west, a nice woodland trail leads up the valley past the Lower Lake to the Upper Lake.
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St Mary's Church
The 10th-century St Mary's Church , 140m southwest of the round tower, probably originally stood outside the walls of the monastery and belonged to local nuns. It has a lovely western doorway.
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St Kevin's Cell
Climb the steps at the back of the Reefert Churchyard and follow the path to the west and you'll find, at the top of a rise overlooking the lake, the scant remains of St Kevin's Cell, a small beehive hut.
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Round Tower
Beyond the monastery gatehouse lies a graveyard, which is still in use. The 10th-century Round Tower here is 33m tall and 16m in circumference at the base. The upper storeys and conical roof were reconstructed in 1876.
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Monastery Gatehouse
Just round the bend from the Glendalough Hotel is the stone arch of the Monastery Gatehouse, the only surviving example of a monastic entranceway in the country. Just inside the entrance is a large slab with an incised cross.
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Priest's House
At the centre of the graveyard to the south of the round tower is the Priest's House. This odd building dates from 1170 but has been heavily reconstructed. It may have been the location of shrines of St Kevin. Later, during penal times, it became a burial site for local priests - hence the name.
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St Kevin's Bed
Just east of Teampall na Skellig and 10m above the lake waters is the 2m-deep artificial cave called St Kevin's Bed, said to be where Kevin lived. The earliest human habitation of the cave was long before St Kevin's era - there's evidence that people lived in the valley for thousands of years before the monks arrived. In the green area just south of the car park is a large circular wall thought to be the remains of an early Christian caher (stone fort).
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St Kevin's Kitchen
Glendalough's trademark is St Kevin's Kitchen or Church at the southern edge of the enclosure. This church, with a miniature round towerlike belfry, protruding sacristy and steep stone roof, is a masterpiece. How it came to be known as a kitchen is a mystery as there's no indication that it was anything other than a church. The oldest parts of the building date from the 11th century - the structure has been remodelled since but it's still a classic early Irish church.
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Teampall na Skellig
The original site of St Kevin's settlement, Teampall na Skellig, is at the base of the cliffs towering over the southern side of the Upper Lake and accessible only by boat; unfortunately, there's no boat service to the site and you'll have to settle for looking at it across the lake. The terraced shelf has the reconstructed ruins of a church and early graveyard. Rough wattle huts once stood on the raised ground nearby. Scattered around are some early grave slabs and simple stone crosses.
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Reefert Church
Follow the Upper Lake lakeshore path southwest of the car park until you come to the considerable remains of Reefert Church above the tiny River Poulanass. It's a small, plain, 11th-century Romanesque nave-and-chancel church with some reassembled arches and walls. Traditionally, Reefert (literally 'Royal Burial Place') was the burial site of the chiefs of the local O'Toole family. The surrounding graveyard contains a number of rough stone crosses and slabs, most made of shiny mica schist.
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Deer Stone
At the junction with Green Rd as you cross the river just south of these two churches is the Deer Stone in the middle of a group of rocks. Legend claims that, when St Kevin needed milk for two orphaned babies, a doe stood here waiting to be milked. The stone is actually a bullaun (a stone used as a mortar for grinding medicines or food).
Many such stones are thought to be prehistoric, and they were widely regarded as having supernatural properties: women who bathed their faces with water from the hollow were supposed to keep their looks forever. The early churchmen brought the stones into their monasteries, perhaps hoping to inherit some of their powers.
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