We are excited to share our 2022 Musical Map Soundtrail with you, an aural and visual guide to the gorgeous landscapes around Valentia Island.
This special project was brought to our 2022 festival with The Lighthouse Project, who provide opportunities for the creation of new work in innovative, sustainable and creative ways, looking at and beyond the natural landscape. We are excited that sound and visual artist, Dumnac Goulet, was selected after a national call, to collaborate with poet and writer, Faye Boland, to create soundscape and artistic responses to iconic and lesser-known areas of Valentia Island.
So, pop in a pair of headphones and either walk around Valentia Island accompanied by these newly created sounds, or join us from the comfort of your own home with our ‘digital experience’ of Valentia Island.
The locations
VALENTIA ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE, CROMWELL POINT
Visit Valentia Island Lighthouse at Cromwell Point and tour one of the great lighthouses of Ireland. This magnificent place acts as a guiding light to bring in vessels from the sea and lead them through the entrance of Valentia Harbour.
Come and explore this beautiful place, once a Cromwellian Fort. The outline of the fort with its bastions and barrack can still be easily traced from the air, lying just inside the lighthouse enclosure wall. Work commenced on the lighthouse in 1838 and the light was first exhibited on 1 February 1841.
GLANLEAM GALLAUN
Standing stones date back to the Bronze Age (2000BC to 500BC) and they are a curiosity, as their function is not entirely known. It is believed they were erected for rituals and other ceremonies, to mark boundaries or to commemorate an important person. They are also known in Ireland as menhir, gallán or dallán.
Visit Valentia Island’s very own on the site of a Cromwellian Fort, between Cromwell Point and Glanleam.
THE GROTTO
The Slate Quarry first opened in 1816 under the direction of the Knight of Kerry and has been a working quarry on and off since that date. Famous for the quality of the slate quarried, this recently reopened quarry is famous for providing the slate for the Paris Opera House, London’s Houses of Parliament and many billiard tables, including one made for the Duke of Wellington & Queen Victoria, today it is used as countertops, tables and roof slate to name a few.
This part of the experience features Fr Patsy Lynch.
BRAY HEAD
Bray Head is located on the western end of Valentia Island, County Kerry. At its summit is Bray Tower, a two-storey abandoned signal tower built by English forces in 1815 during the Napoleonic wars and used as a signal station along with several other Martello towers located all along the Ireland coast. Bray Head is a signature discovery point on the Wild Atlantic Way and an ideal way to view the Skellig Islands, A UNESCO World Heritage Site and now a major set location on Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie.
Thank you
We are grateful for the support from Valentia Island Lighthouse and Dani Gill with The Lighthouse Project for this special event
