Glendalough is an irish natural park, i've chosen this place for my entry of a beauty natural place, because i've been for a month in ireland and i visited it.
Glendalough (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch, meaning Glen of Two Lakes) is a glacial valley located in County Wicklow, Ireland. Within it lies a ruined village containing a former monastery, which was founded in the 6th century by Saint Kevin, a hermit priest, and destroyed in 1398 by English troops.
The location was sought out as a peaceful retreat by Saint Kevin because of its remoteness and serenity, but several men who wished to follow his teachings built a temporary place of churches and living quarters in the valley below the site of his house.This soon grew and became an important school. The remains of the monastery are located beside the Lower Lake and the Upper Lake.
The monastic site includes a 33 metres tall round tower and Saint Kevin's Cross, a Celtic High Cross. It has been thought the round tower was built during the era of the Viking invasions of Ireland (up to and around 1066), in order to protect the religious books and chalices used in the monastery at the time.
The monastery with its round tower is today one of the most popular tourist attractions in the county.
The valley was formed during the last ice age by a glacier which left a moraine across the valley mouth. The Poulanass river, which plunges into the valley from the south, created a delta, which eventually divided the original lake in two.
Glendalough is surrounded by semi-natural oak woodland. Much of this was formerly coppiced (cut to the base at regular intervals) to produce wood, charcoal and bark. In the springtime, the oakwood floor is carpeted with a display of bluebells, wood sorrel and wood anemones. Other common plants are woodrush, bracken, polypody fern and various species of mosses. The understorey is largely of holly, hazel and mountain ash.
Glendalough (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch, meaning Glen of Two Lakes) is a glacial valley located in County Wicklow, Ireland. Within it lies a ruined village containing a former monastery, which was founded in the 6th century by Saint Kevin, a hermit priest, and destroyed in 1398 by English troops.
The location was sought out as a peaceful retreat by Saint Kevin because of its remoteness and serenity, but several men who wished to follow his teachings built a temporary place of churches and living quarters in the valley below the site of his house.This soon grew and became an important school. The remains of the monastery are located beside the Lower Lake and the Upper Lake.
The monastic site includes a 33 metres tall round tower and Saint Kevin's Cross, a Celtic High Cross. It has been thought the round tower was built during the era of the Viking invasions of Ireland (up to and around 1066), in order to protect the religious books and chalices used in the monastery at the time.
The monastery with its round tower is today one of the most popular tourist attractions in the county.
The valley was formed during the last ice age by a glacier which left a moraine across the valley mouth. The Poulanass river, which plunges into the valley from the south, created a delta, which eventually divided the original lake in two.
Glendalough is surrounded by semi-natural oak woodland. Much of this was formerly coppiced (cut to the base at regular intervals) to produce wood, charcoal and bark. In the springtime, the oakwood floor is carpeted with a display of bluebells, wood sorrel and wood anemones. Other common plants are woodrush, bracken, polypody fern and various species of mosses. The understorey is largely of holly, hazel and mountain ash.
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