Architecture

With over 6,000 years of inhabitation, Ireland has a long history of architecture. However, very few traces of the first people to arrive here remain as the structures would have been mostly of wooden construction. In some cases archaeologists have been fortunate to find evidence of pole holes, such as at the copper mines on Ross Island Killarney dating from over 4,000 years ago.

It is not until the coming of Christianity in the 4th century that we see the beginning of what were to be our most decorative buildings. Initially these were basic stone huts such as the beehive huts on the Great Skelligs Island off the Kerry coast but towards the 8th and 9th century the designs become more ornate, such as the beautifully corbelled church at Gallarus on the Dingle Peninsula.

However, it is in the middle of the 11th century that we find our most elegant structures. The introduction of Romanesque architecture inspired the beautiful and highly decorated doorways found in the churches at Inisfallen and Kilmalkedar. This period was short lived as the coming of the Anglo-Normans at the end of the 12th century brought with it the pointed Gothic arches that was to be the feature of the medieval churches throughout Ireland. One of the most interesting examples of this transition is to be see at Muckross Abbey (1340 A.D.) in Killarney. It seems as if the builder of the cloister began with the rounded Romanesque arches and then decided to finish the remaining arches in the new Gothic style.
 
This is also the period when we see the rise of medieval castles. The coming of the Normans followed by Cromwell's forces in the middle of the 17th century made fortification a necessity rather than a luxury. Following the defeat of the Irish, the country was divided into parcels of land and given as payment to Cromwell´s soldiers. This was the beginning of a new era in Irish history and Irish architecture - the coming of the landlords and the big houses.

Actually not all the houses were big houses. Some were really just large farmhouses. The really big or Great houses of Ireland belonged to the wealthier landlords or the few well to do Catholic merchants. If we take the Romanesque period as the high point in early Irish architecture then the Georgian period (1714-1830) was the high point for the later period. Rows of beautiful Georgian houses are to be found in all our major cities and in Kerry we are fortunate to have some fine examples in Denny Street, Tralee. Some other fine building from around this period are Muckross House and St. Mary's Cathedral in Killarney, the former home of Lord Ventry, now Colaiste Ide in Dingle, and Tarbert House in North Kerry.

During your holiday in Kerry why not turn detective and explore Irish architecture? You will find fine examples from every period here - from stone huts to magnificent houses. Useful reference books are the Archaeology Surveys of Dingle, North Kerry and the Iveragh Peninsula, along with Houses of Kerry by Valerie Bary.

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