IrelandGenWeb-L Archives

From: "Jean Rice" <>
Subject: [IGW] The Skelligs (Kerry) -- Description, Traveller, Richard LOVETT (1888)
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 16:29:13 -0700

SNIPPET: The notes of Victorian traveller to Ireland, Richard LOVETT, were published 1888 by The Religious Tract Society. "The Skelligs are three rocky islets forming the most south-westerly extensions of the kingdom of Ireland. The strong light perched on a ledge of the Great Skellig, shining out clear and powerful over sixteen or twenty miles of the heaving Atlantic, is the first sign of land that the traveller from the west sees. Though inhabited now only by the lightkeepers and their families, centuries ago a monastery flourished there, and no extant remains in Ireland enable us to picture the old monastic life of the early Irish Church better than those which still crown the lofty top of the Great Skellig. It was long the writer's desire to visit this famous spot, and this desire was not lessened by the discovery that the trip was not easy to accomplish, and that the intending visitor was here, more than in most spots along this coast, at the mercy of wind and we!
ather. Unless these were very propitious, the attempt to land was certain to result in failure. But wind and weather were in a kindly mood towards him on the one occasion when he found himself at Valentia with a day to spare; and no single day's excursion has ever afforded him fuller gratification.

The nearest village to the Skelligs on the mainland is Port Magee, a little fishing station on the strait separating the southern coast of Valentia Island from the mainland. It is from this place that, at the time of the writing (1888), the boat carrying supplies and letters to the lighthouse on the rock sails at irregular intervals. It is possible to arrange for a visit in this boat, but it is more satisfactory in most cases to hire one specially for the excursion. The Great Skellig is a sharp-pointed mass of rock, rising straight up from the bosom of the Atlantic, and situated about 9 miles to the south-west of Port Magee. It is a most enjoyable expedition for those who are not afflicted with nervousness, and who can sit for hours in a small boat as she rides upon the mighty Atlantic swell, and receive therefrom nothing but benefit and enjoyment. It is emphatically a trip to be avoided by the timid, by those subject to sea-sickness, and unless under very exceptional c!
ircumstances, by ladies."

Describing the author's excursion: "It fell upon an April day, the only one that could be spared for the adventure. On awaking at 6:30 a.m.- and he who would see the Skelligs should be early on the road - the eye was gladdened by the sight of brilliant sunshine. A jaunting car soon traversed the seven miles that intervene between Knights Town and the ferry over against Port Magee. A very ancient mariner conveys passengers across, and then a certain amount of bargaining secured a boat and a crew of four fine muscular young fishermen for the trip out and back to the Skelligs. The scale of payment was determined to some extent by the assurance that it would be necessary in the state of the wind and weather on that particular day to row probably the whole way there, and certainly the whole way back. And their forecast proved true. And here it may be remarked that no one, from economical or other reasons, should attempt this trip without at least four men. Even in the bes!
t weather the landing upon the rock is a somewhat delicate operation, and no boat should ever start which is not in itself capable of standing very rough weather, and so manned that if caught in a breeze there should be ample strength to do all that is needful. Whether I paid more or less than usual I am unable to say. I hired the boat and the four men for the day at a charge of twenty-five shillings, and when they landed me safe and sound in the evening, I felt they had well earned their money."

.

This thread:

• [IGW] The Skelligs (Kerry) -- Description, Traveller, Richard LOVETT (1888) by "Jean Rice" <>