Craic in Cork: West Cork

Today was a busy day, full of field trip activities. We left for the outing at 9:30 this morning, and headed towards West Cork. Our first stop was Garranes Ringfort. Ringforts are round, grassy areas where people in the Middle Ages. It is not often that ring forts are found in southern Ireland, they are usually in the north of the country. It was a treat seeing one in our area, and to make it even better, this is one of the largest ringforts ever excavated! Tomás gave us the opportunity to explore the wooded areas around the ringfort, which I was definitely not dressed for (grass stains everywhere!)! However, it was really beautiful, and nice to be out of a city environment.

After the rignfort, we headed to Ballinacarriga Tower. Since Tomás has a number of degrees having to do with Archaeology, he has a "skeleton key" allowing him to unlock many historical sites, including this one. He showed the class the different parts of the tower and explained their significance, and also led us to the top of this tower (filled with winding stairs), and gave us some historical background on the site. I felt like a VIP being able to enter the tower! The vistas were gorgeous at the top, showing you endless, rolling hills.

Our next stop (after lunch) was Coppinger's Court. This is a castle that is located in the middle of an open, lusciously green, valley. It was very old, so we were unable to go inside, unfortunately. Tomás said there was a chance stones could fall on us if we entered, so I was okay with keeping away! The castle was gorgeous (and massive) even from the outside, I cannot imagine what it must have looked like on the inside at one point in time!

We quickly moved onto the final site, the Stone Circle at Drombeg. Stone circles were used as ritual places, with strategically aligned stones across from one another. This circle contained 17 stones, which is a very large amount (usually they contain about 5 stones). What is interesting about this site is the sunset on the Winter Solstice. The way the stones are set up allows for a magnificent ray of light during the short moment of time of setting sun on the 21st of December. This had to be my favorite site of the day. It was not because of the Stone Circle, however, but the amazing ocean views when standing at the site of the circle. The water looked so calm and welcoming, almost like Black Point :)

We had a great day, full of lots of sun! Tonight we are headed out to meet up with the USD students and roam the city!

Be back tomorrow!

XO,

Caitlin

P.S. Good luck to Maureen starting her fourth year of teaching the 5th Grade tomorrow!!

Exploring the ditches in the woods!