Mount Brandon - Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

Due to its link with Saint Brendan, the mountain is popular with Irish Catholic pilgrims. The path to the peak is marked by small white crosses and the peak itself is topped by a large metal cross. The pilgrimage route called Cosán na Naomh (The Saints Road) begins at Cill Mhic an Domhnaigh (Kilvickadowning) at the southern end of the peninsula and ends at Sáipéilín Bréanainn (Brendan's Oratory) on the mountain's peak. Sáipéilín Bréanainn is the remains of a small stone building that was believed to have been used by Saint Brendan. The origin of Cosán na Naomh as a pilgrimage route pre-dates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, however; the historian Máire Mac Néill has argued that it has its origins in the pagan festival of the Irish god Lug.

In 1997, the Heritage Council set up the Pilgrim Paths project to develop walking routes along medieval pilgrimage paths. One of the routes chosen for development was Cosán na Naomh and an 18-kilometre (11-mile) long waymarked trail has been constructed between Ventry Strand and the grotto at Ballybrack at the foot of Mount Brandon. The trail has been developed to the standard required by the Irish Sports Council for National Waymarked Trails in Ireland. For safety reasons, it was decided not to mark the trail to the very end of the traditional route at the summit of Brandon but to finish at Ballybrack. The starting point of the trail at Ventry is one of the places pilgrims arriving by boat would have come ashore. The trail passes a number of important ecclesiastical heritage sites including Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar monastic site. The route has the greatest concentration of stones marked with the "cross of arcs", one of the principal symbols of pilgrimage in Ireland.