Editing Gallarus Oratory

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox church
| native_name = Séipéilín Ghallarais
| image = Gallarusoratory.jpg
| pushpin map = Ireland
| country = [[Ireland]]
| location = [[Dingle Peninsula]], [[County Kerry]]
| denomination           = [[Pre-Reformation Catholic]]
| diocese                = [[Bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe|Ardfert and Aghadoe]]
| archdiocese            = [[Archbishop of Cashel|Cashel]]
|materials=[[Old Red Sandstone]]
|floor area={{Convert|14.4|m2|abbr=on}}
| embedded = {{Infobox designation list
| embed                =yes 
| designation2         = National Monument of Ireland
| designation2_offname = Gallarus Oratory
| designation2_number  = 66
}}}}

The '''Gallarus Oratory''' ({{Langx|ga|Séipéilín Ghallarais}}) is a chapel on the [[Dingle Peninsula]], [[County Kerry]], Ireland. It has been presented variously as an early-Christian stone church by [[antiquary]] Charles Smith, in 1756; a 12th-century [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] church by archaeologist [[Peter Harbison]] in 1970; a shelter for pilgrims by the same in 1994. The local tradition prevalent at the time of Charles Smith attributed it to one Griffith More, being a funerary chapel built by him or his family at their burial place.

The [[Oratory (worship)|oratory]] overlooks the harbour at [[Ard na Caithne]] (formerly also called Smerwick) on the Dingle Peninsula. Saints road (''Cosán na Naomh''), an old pilgrimage road less than 300 metres away, leads to the summit of [[Mount Brandon]], which can be seen in the background of the oratory.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harbison |first=Peter |title=Pilgrimage in Ireland: The Monuments and the People |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1991 |isbn=9780815602651 |pages=141}}</ref>

== Name ==
There exist several interpretations as to the origin and meaning of the placename ''Gallarus''.  Archaeologist [[Peter Harbison]] ventures the meaning to be something like 'the house or shelter for foreigner(s)' (''Gall Aras''), the said foreigners being possibly "these pilgrims that have come from outside the Peninsula."<ref name=":0">{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Harbison |title=Pilgrimage in Ireland: The Monuments and the People |publisher=Syracuse University Press |date=1995 |page=77 |quote=Various suggestions have been made to explain the Irish name, Gall Aras. If slightly ungrammatical, perhaps it is simplest to take it as meaning something like 'The House or Shelter for Foreigner(s')'; we might not go too far wrong in seeing the foreigners as being those pilgrims who had come from outside the Peninsula.}}</ref>

However, according to lexicologist [[Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha]] (aka ''An Seabhac''), the name does not refer to a foreign settlement but to a rocky headland (''Gall-iorrus'').<ref>T. J. Barrington, ''Discovering Kerry: Its History, Heritage and Topography'', Collins Press, 1999, 336 p. (originally published in 1976), p. 247: "The name does not, according to An Seabhach, refer to a foreign settlement but to a rocky headland}."</ref>

== Discovery ==
As the oratory is the only intact specimen of its type, it has attracted considerable attention, starting from antiquarians in the mid-18th century. The first account we have of the oratory is Charles Smith's description of 1756 in ''The Antient and Present State of the County of Kerry (Dublin)'', p.&nbsp;191.<ref>Peter Harbison, [https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-769-1/dissemination/pdf/vol14/14_034_059.pdf How Old is Gallarus Oratory? A Reappraisal of Its Role in Early Irish Architecture], in ''Medieval Archeology'', N. 14, 1970, p. 34-37, especially p. 34.</ref>

== Architecture ==
=== Masonry ===
The oratory is built of large cut stones from the Dingle Beds of the Upper [[Silurian]] [[Old Red Sandstone]]. Charles Smith, who discovered the edifice in 1756, described the stone as "a brown free-stone, brought from the cliffs of the sea shore, which cuts readily and is very durable."<ref>Charles Smith, ''The Antient and Present State of the County of Kerry, Dublin'', 1756, p. 191.</ref>

The stones are cut on every side and end so as to fit perfectly together and slope slightly down to help rain run off the structure.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meehan |first=Cary |date=2004 |title=Sacred Ireland |url= |location=Somerset |publisher=Gothic Image Publications |page=559|isbn=0 906362 43 1 |access-date=}}</ref> They exhibit smoothly finished outside facings that follow the slant of the wall.

The edifice is usually thought to be of [[Dry stone|dry-stone walling]] - built without mortar as a structural medium, but there is evidence that even if mortar "was never visible in the wall facings it was used as a structural medium for the interior of the wall at least."<ref>H. G. Leask, Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings, vol. I, Dundalk, 1955, p. 22: "Though Gallarus is built without mortar as a structural medium, mortar is not entirely absent from the building; very fine lime mortar has been found filling the internal joints here and there: an internal pointing to the stonework. It has also been observed filling small hollows in the inner faces of the vault, faces which were brought to a fair smooth finish with pick or punch by the builders."</ref> A thin layer of [[lime mortar]] is used to bond the stones together and to fill in small hollows in the inner faces.<ref>Peter Harbison, How old is Gallarus oratory?, op. cit., p. 34.</ref>

=== Morphology ===
The oratory’s shape has been compared to that of an upturned boat because of its sloping side walls. The edifice uses [[corbel arch|corbel vaulting]].<ref>{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=94 |isbn=}}</ref> The stones are positioned on each course with their edges projecting inward by a small increment as the walls rise. Besides, they are laid at a slight angle, lower on the outside than on the inside, thus allowing rainwater to run off. Both techniques can still be seen in the modern agricultural [[clochán]]s of the Dingle peninsula.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harbison |first=Peter |title=Pilgrimage in Ireland: The Monuments and the People |date=June 1, 1995 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=9780815603122 |pages=77 |language=en}}</ref>

The edifice has two side walls and two end walls, sloping and converging at the top, each of one piece, playing a dual role as load-bearing wall and corbelled half-vault.  The walls are 4 feet (1.20m) thick at the lowest point of the building.<ref>De Breffny, pg. 94</ref> Some slight sagging has occurred across the length of the northern roof slope.<ref name=":0" /> The interior room is approximately {{Convert|4.8|m}} by {{Convert|3|m|4=0}}, a size that befits more an oratory or a small chapel than a church. It is dimly lit, with only a tiny round-headed window in the east wall, opposite the entrance door. The window splays more widely towards the inside of the wall. The doorway is 1.67&nbsp;m (5.5&nbsp;ft) high. It has a flat lintel. On the inside over the lintel, two holed stones project out from the wall, possibly for the attachment of a wooden door.<ref>Meehan, p. 560.</ref>

== Interpretations as to dates and uses ==
Antiquarian Charles Smith<ref>Charles Smith, ''The Antient and Present State of the County of Kerry'', Dublin, 1756, p. 191.</ref> is the originator of the claim that the building is an early Irish stone church although no historical information is available prior to 1756 regarding its use.<ref>''The Grove Encyclopaedia of Medieval Art and Architecture'', vol. 2, Colum P. Hourihane (ed.), OUP USA, 2012, 677 p., pp. 635–636.</ref>

In 1970, archaeologist Peter Harbison argued that the oratory might have been built as late as the 12th century for a number of reasons, mainly because the east window has a rounded top made of two carved stones (not a [[true arch]]).<ref>Peter Harbison, "How old is Gallarus Oratory?", op. cit.</ref>

Harbison produced some evidence pointing to a later date and a different use: a letter by English traveller [[Richard Pococke]] who visited the oratory in 1758, two years after it was discovered by Charles Smith:<ref>also the "discoverer" of Skellig Michael monastic stone huts</ref> "Near this building they show a grave with a head at the cross of it and call it the tomb of the Giant; the tradition is that Griffith More was buried there, & as they call'd [it] a chapel, so probably it was built by him or his family at their burial place."<ref>Peter Harbison, How old is Gallarus oratory?, op. cit., p. 36.</ref>

In 1994 and 1995, Harbison gave up the hypothesis of a 12th-century church and claimed that the placename Gallarus meant 'the house or shelter of foreigner(s)' (''Gall Aras''), the said "foreigner(s)" being pilgrims from outside the peninsula.<ref>Peter Harbison, ''Pilgrimage in Ireland: The Monuments and the People'', Syracuse University Press, 1995, 256 p., pp. 77–78.</ref> However, this does not accord with lexicologist Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha's translation of the name as "rocky headland" (''Gall-iorrus'').<ref>T. J. Barrington, ''Discovering Kerry: Its History, Heritage and Topography'', op. cit., p. 247.</ref>

== Archaeological evidence ==
Minor trial cuttings carried out at Gallarus in November 1970 yielded no finds or evidence of features or activity which might shed light on the period of construction and use of the oratory.<ref>Peter Harbison, How old is Gallarus oratory?, op. cit., pp. 57–58: "Finally it should be mentioned that minor trial cuttings carried out by T. Fanning at Gallarus in November 1970, on behalf of the National Monuments Branch of the Office of Public Works, preparatory to drainage works on the site, yielded no finds or evidence of features or activity which might shed light on the period of construction and use of the oratory".</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Image:Gallarus_Oratory_(front).jpg|Full view
Image:Gallarus_Oratory_Rainbow_20070916.jpg|Three-quarter view
Image:Gallarus_oratory_sag_in_roof.jpg|Roof with sag
Image:Gallarus_oratory_inside.jpg|The indoor window
</gallery>

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Commons category|Gallarus Oratory}}
* [[Rachel Moss (art historian)|Moss, Rachel]]. ''Medieval c. 400—c. 1600'', "Art and Architecture of Ireland" series. CT: Yale University Press, 2014. {{ISBN|978-03-001-7919-4}}
*{{cite book |last=O'Sullivan |first= Aidan|title= Appreciation and History of Art |publisher= Gill & Macmillan Ltd |date=September 1998 |isbn= 0-7171-1666-2}}

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[[Category:Buildings and structures in County Kerry]]
[[Category:Dingle Peninsula]]
[[Category:National monuments in County Kerry]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic chapels in the Republic of Ireland]]