Gallurus Oratory

A boat-shaped oratory on the Dingle peninsula in Kerry, Ireland, one of the few examples of pre-11th century Irish ecclesiastical architecture to have survived. It seems to have belonged to a building tradition that falls between the beehives of the 6th and 7th centuries and the first stone churches of the 11th and 12th centuries. The building is constructed of large, flat corbelled stones, with inward-sloping walls apexing in a gable at each end.

A boat-shaped oratory situated on the Dingle peninsula in Co. Kerry, Ireland. Few examples of pre-11 th century Irish ecclesiastical architecture have survived, since most early Celtic monastic buildings were primitive constructions of timber or dry stone, but there are a few remaining beehive cells (known as clochains) and a group of roughly boat-shaped oratories, of which Gallurus is the most sophisticated. It is impossible to date the oratory precisely, but it must belong to a building tradition that falls between the beehives of the 6th and 7th centuries and the first stone churches of the 11th or 12th century. The building is constructed of large, flat corbelled stones, with inward-sloping walls apexing in a gable at each end. Inserted into the western end is a doorway with a lintel and sloping jambs, while the eastern gable is penetrated by a small roundheaded window, splayed internally. The building measures 4.6 by 3.1 metres and has no interior divisions.