The name Skelligs comes from the Gaelic "Na Scealga" meaning Jagged rocks. Skellig Michael and Little Skellig are two jagged rocks sitting 13km from the mainland of South Kerry. The 350 Million year old Devonian Sandstone that forms the backbone of South Kerry runs from the Islands to the headlands of the coast and on to the shores of the Lakes of Killarney was shaped by the last ice age to give us the Skellig Rocks we have today.
Skellig Michael stands 230 metres above sea level and measures 42 acres.

In 588 as Christianity began to spread across Ireland, a remarkable monastic settlement began here. Though not recorded in writing, its foundation is widely attributed to the local saint, St Fionan.

In the 16th Century these islands would have been far more remote than the well traversed deserts and towns of North Africa, and the Near and Middle East. Isolated at the very edge of the known world, this was the ideal place for a monastic ideal devoted to a lonely life of religious contemplation and devotion. The Celtic monks built six beehive huts, ’clochans’, and two oratories on artificial terraces. These were facing South-Southeast for maximum sunshine and surrounded by sturdy outer walls to deflect the strong winds and protect the vegetable patches. A seventh clochan was built higher up on a remote ledge for hermitage (solitary prayer and fasting). Twelve monks and an Abbot would have lived at the settlement, reflecting the cellular structure of Christ and the twelve Apostles. These beehive huts were drystone built in the corbelled style and have remained in place without even a leak for 1500 years. The 670 step ascent, carved out of the living rock, brings the pilgrim to the settlement. The monastery, comprising huts, oratories, gardens and a graveyard give some idea of the Spartan lifestyle the occupants led. Bird droppings and seaweed were used as fertiliser, while seabirds, fish, seals and farmed rabbits provided meat. Today the puffins happily nest in the abandoned rabbit burrows.

The monastery was invaded several times with first records showing Danish Vikings attacking in 795AD. In 812AD the Vikings took the Abbot Eitgal and starved him to death . However, two hundred years after the first attack, the future King of Norway Olav Trygvasson was baptised on Skellig Michael and his son Olav the Second went on to become the patron saint of Norway.

In the late 12th and early 13th Century the Irish church began to shift from a monastic to a diocesan structure. This movement, coupled with a considerable climatic deterioration - severe storms and very cold weather prevailed in this period - led the monks back to the mainland. The monks on Skellig Michael had stayed for 600 years, leaving over 200 years before Columbus landed in America. Over a period of time they moved to the Augustinian Priory at nearby Baillinskelligs, the townland of the Skelligs. Around this time a church was built on the island and dedicated to St Michael, patron of high places, thus Great Skellig became known as Skellig Michael.

In the 16th century the Skelligs were a popular place of pilgrimage and at Easter penitents came from throughout Ireland to fast and celebrate the Stations of the Cross. In 1578, after the collapse of the Desmond rebellions, Queen Elizabeth dissolved the monasteries under Desmond protection and the islands passed into the secular hands of the loyalist Butler family. Records show their rent as being "two hawks and a quantity of feathers yearly".
In the 1830s the commissioners of Irish Lights purchased Skellig Michael for £800 in order to build a lighthouse on the island. The lighthouse has been upgraded several times and was fully automated in 1987.In 1989 the state purchased the islands and inn 1996 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Licensed local boats bring visitors to the islands, landing on Skellig Michael from April to October weather permitting.
Check out www.visitsouthwestkerry.ie for details.