church island early christian monastery

A small monastic settlement on a small island off Beginish Island in Valentia Harbour. Nothing is known of its history. Originally the monastery consisted of a small wooden oratory and a round hut of which nothing remains. These were later replaced by the existing long, rectangular, stone, corbel-vaulted oratory, a rounded stone hut probably roofed with straw, as well as a square house near the edge of the island. The wall surrounding the monastery is a later addition. A stone with an inscribed cross to which an Ogham inscription was later added, was found during the course of excavations; it is now preserved in the Cork Public Museum. The excavator suggested that the church was built about A.D. 750, but it could have been built much later.