A portion of wall was swept into the sea last month at Skellig Michael, an island off the west coast of Ireland that was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 1996 for the remains of a Medieval monastery at its summit. The craggy outcrop was used as a filming location for last year’s blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which has led to a surge of bookings at hotels and guesthouses on the Irish mainland at Portmagee, the departure point for tourist boats to Skellig Michael.
The Office for Public Works (OPW) in Ireland, which administers the site, said the collapsed wall may have been damaged by severe storms or rockfall from the slopes above. The wall in question leads from the main landing pier for visitors to steps that rise to the monastery at the top of the island. As we went to press, the OPW announced: “It will be a priority for the inspection team to establish urgently what the safety implications for visitors are this coming summer and how to address the matter, given the importance of the site to the local tourism economy in Kerry.”