One of Ireland’s 21st-century bards took time out from his busy schedule at the West Cork Literary Festival to visit an ancient Irish university last week.
By Brian Moore
ONE of Ireland’s 21st-century bards took time out from his busy schedule at the West Cork Literary Festival to visit an ancient Irish university last week.
Poet Theo Dorgan travelled from Bantry to the scenic O’Daly Bardic School – the ‘hidden gem’ on Dunmanus Bay – to imagine what conditions might have been like for aspiring poets and storytellers of the past.
‘The seclusion of the site reminds me of a monastery and one can picture the scholars of the bardic tradition developing their craft set apart from everyday distractions,’ he told The Southern Star.
Located just outside Kilcrohane village on the Sheep’s Head peninsula, the ruined cluster of buildings in the townland of Droumnea was recently visited by a team of archaeologists.
They set about mapping the site of the school, funded by a Heritage Council grant, awarded to the Muintir Bháire Community Council.
The archaeologists used a high-tech remote camera to produce 3D images of the structures at the site with the aim of uncovering some of the site’s secrets.
The team is eager to further explore the area and to learn more about what life was like for the would-be bards and the wider community on the Sheep’s Head peninsula in medieval Ireland.
