The island of Skellig Michael, a pyramidal rock 217 metres high, 13 kilometres off the coast of County Kerry, is an outstandingly well-preserved early Christian settlement. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. 

The Skellig settlement is the most dramatic expression of the early Christian monastic belief that intimacy with God was best achieved in harsh and isolated settings. There are 6 slated, beehive-shaped cells, their drystone walls curving gradually inward, covered with corbelled-stone roofs.

Recently, archaeologists found evidence of the remains of a hermitage near the Skellig’s South Peak, built ion the ledges of a rock rising vertically from the sea below to a height of almost 213 metres; this was, in their words, a place as near to God as the physical environment would permit.