The majority of the dry laid stonework at the ancient fort known as Dun Aonghasa on the Aran Island of Inishmore is amazing and intriguing. At first glance it looks too random and almost ugly.
As I stand there, with a cold brisk wind from the west nearly pushing me over, I'm looking at the magnificent arrangement of stones and finding it very hard to understand the pattern. I take a picture and tell myself I will study it closer when I get back to Canada.
The wall stones are chunky squares arranged in an almost vertical pattern. The smaller stones create a network of snecks beside many of these larger rectangles.
These are impressively high walls that have stood the test of time yet they seem so primitively constructed with no purposed attention to coursing or conventional bonding.
What can we learn from this wall? What are the stones saying?
