The walk on the strand to the Derrynane Abbey is probably even more fascinating than the abbey itself.
The church is on a small rocky promontory linked to the mainland by a short sandy path, so I think that coming here on a low tide is absolutely necessary to get access to the ruin, and we made our homework right!
The ruins include three buildings linked together and are on the edge of a cliff on the bay. The largest of the three buildings is the main church, almost complete except the roof. The north wall has two beautiful windows and a round arch doorway, but in the south wall the doorway is in the Gothic style. The west wall is blind, the east wall has three very splayed windows with massive buttresses on the outside.
There's a building parallel to the main church but almost nothing remains of it.
Another building links the two parallel structures but the only parts of it are the east wall with a doorway and a window, and the south gable with four very small square openings.
The abbey was built in the 6th century and is aligned to the east (90°).
A graveyard still in use surrounds the ruins and other burials are within the church. The most interesting tomb is the one of Mary O'Connell, wife of the national hero Daniel O'Connell who is buried in Dublin.
Another unusual thing is sort of a mausoleum, a large tomb with a stepped base, all tiled with white tiles though many of them are missing or chipped, for the Galvin family.
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