Big Mick, since the subject has shifted a bit, perhaps you can help me with a snippit of fact or two. I recently read a book called "the Magic Cup" by an Irish American priest from Chicago called Andrew Greeley. In it he refers to St. Brendan (his voyage is part of the story). In the notes, he mentions, but does not elaborate on the idea that Brendan found, or knew of, or visited, an Irish kingdom in the far west. Not Tir nan Og, not Hy Brasil, not anything faerie or Tuatha de Danaan, but human. I have not come across this idea before, but knowing that Iceland was first settled by Irish monks, and that the Iceland DNA project has uncovered a greater than expected contribution from Ireland, I am not at all surprised. I would like to know more about it, though. Do you have any references I could look out? And to your Irish monks buildings?

Penny