Historic Site sights in Ireland
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Rock of Cashel
The Rock of Cashel is one of Ireland's most spectacular archaeological sites. The 'Rock' is a prominent green hill, banded with limestone outcrops. It rises from a grassy plain on the edge of the town and bristles with ancient fortifications – the word 'cashel' is an anglicised version of the Irish word caiseal, meaning 'fortress'. Sturdy walls circle an enclosure that contains a complete round tower, a 13th century Gothic cathedral and the finest 12th-century Romanesque chapel in Ireland. For more than 1000 years the Rock of Cashel was a symbol of power and the seat of kings and churchmen who ruled over the region. In the 4th century the Rock of Cashel was chosen as a …
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The Entries
The narrow alleyways running off High St and Ann St, known as the Entries, were once bustling commercial and residential thoroughfares; Pottinger's Entry, for example, had 34 houses in 1822.
Joy's Entry is named after Francis Joy, who founded the Belfast News Letter in 1737, the first daily newspaper in the British Isles (it's still in business). One of his grandsons, Henry Joy McCracken, was executed for supporting the 1798 United Irishmen revolt.
The United Irishmen were founded in 1791 by Wolfe Tone in Peggy Barclay's tavern in Crown Entry, and used to meet in the historic Kelly's Cellars (1720; ) on Bank St, off Royal Ave.
White's Tavern (1630; ) , on Wine Cellar Entry, …
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Kells Priory
This is the best sort of ruin, where visitors can amble about whenever they like, with no tour guides, tours, set hours or fees. At dusk on a vaguely sunny day the old priory is simply beautiful. Most days you stand a chance of exploring the site alone (apart from bleating and pooping sheep).
The earliest remains of this gorgeous monastic site date from the late 12th century, while the bulk of the present ruins are from the 15th century. In a sea of rich farmland, a carefully restored protective wall connects seven dwelling towers. Inside the walls are the remains of an Augustinian abbey and the foundations of some chapels and houses. It's unusually well fortified for a mo…
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Newgrange
Even from afar, you know that Newgrange is something special. Its white round stone walls topped by a grass dome look otherworldly, and just the size is impressive: 80m in diameter and 13m high. But underneath it gets even better. Here lies the finest Stone Age passage tomb in Ireland, and one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites in Europe. It dates from around 3200 BC, predating the pyramids by some six centuries.
No one is quite sure of its original purpose. It could have been a burial place for kings or a centre for ritual – although the tomb's precise alignment with the sun at the time of the winter solstice also suggests it was designed to act as a calendar.
The …
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Nendrum Monastic Site
The Celtic monastic community of Nendrum was built in the 5th century under the guidance of St Mochaoi (St Mahee). It is much older than the Norman monastery at Greyabbey on the opposite shore and couldn't be more different. The scant remains provide a clear outline of its early plan, with the foundations of a number of churches, a round tower, beehive cells and other buildings, as well as three concentric stone ramparts and a monks' cemetery, all in a wonderful island setting. A particularly interesting relic is the stone sundial that has been reconstructed using some of the original pieces. The minor road to Mahee Island from the lough's western shore crosses a causeway…
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St Laurence's Gate
Astride the eastwards extension of the town's main street is St Laurence's Gate, the finest surviving portion of the city walls. This imposing pile of stone is not in fact a gate but instead a barbican, a fortified structure used to defend the gate, which was further behind it.
Dating from the 13th century, the structure was named after St Laurence's Priory, which once stood outside the gate; no traces of it now remain. The barbican consists of two lofty towers, a connecting curtain wall and the entrance to the portcullis. When the town walls were completed in the 13th century, they ran for 3km around the town, enclosing 52 hectares.
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Hore Abbey
Cashel throws in another bonus for the heritage lover. This is the formidable ruin of 13th-century Hore Abbey (also known as Hoare Abbey or St Mary's). Originally Benedictine and settled by monks from Glastonbury in England at the end of the 12th century, it later became a Cistercian house. Enjoyably gloomy, it was gifted to the order by a 13th-century archbishop who expelled the Benedictine monks after dreaming that they planned to murder him.
The abbey is just under 1km north of the Rock in flat farmland.
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Killevy Churches
Surrounded by beech trees, these ruined, conjoined churches were constructed on the site of a 5th-century nunnery that was founded by St Moninna. The eastern church dates from the 15th century, and shares a gable wall with the 12th-century western one. The west door, with a massive lintel and granite jambs, may be 200 years older still. At the side of the churchyard, a footpath leads uphill to a white cross that marks St Moninna's holy well.
The churches are 6km south of Camlough, on a minor road to Meigh. Look out for a crossroads with a sign pointing west to the churches and east to Bernish Rock Viewpoint.
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Tobar Éinne
Locals still carry out a pilgrimage known as the Turas to the Well of Enda, an ever- burbling spring in a remote rocky expanse in the southwest. The ceremony involves, over the course of three consecutive Sundays, picking up seven stones from the ground nearby and walking around the small well seven times, putting one stone down each time, while saying the rosary until an elusive eel appears from the well's watery depths. If, during this ritual, you're lucky enough to see the eel, it's said your tongue will be bestowed with healing powers, enabling you to literally lick wounds.
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Father McDyer's Folk Village
A museum with a mission, this folk centre was established by the forward-thinking Father James McDyer in 1967 to freeze-frame traditional folk life for posterity. It's housed in a huddle of replicated thatched cottages of the 18th and 19th centuries, with genuine period fittings. The shebeen (illicit drinking place) sells unusual local wines (made from ingredients such as seaweed and fuchsias) alongside marmalade and whiskey truffles. Admission includes a tour. It's 3km west of the village, by the beach.
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St Colmcille's House
From the churchyard exit on Church St, St Colmcille's House is left up the hill, among the row of houses on the right side of Church Lane. This squat, solid structure is a survivor from the old monastic settlement. Its name is a misnomer, as it was built in the 10th century and St Colmcille was alive in the 6th century. Experts have suggested that it was used as a scriptorium, a place where monks illuminated books.
The site is usually locked except during the summer months, but ask at the tourist office about the keys or phone Mrs Carpenter for access.
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Dún Aengus
Three spectacular forts stand guard over Inishmór, each believed to be around 2000 years old. Chief among them is Dún Aengus, which has three nonconcentric walls that run right up to sheer drops to the ocean below. It is protected by remarkable chevaux de frise, fearsome and densely packed defensive stone spikes that surely helped deter ancient armies from invading the site.
Powerful swells pound the 60m-high cliff face. A complete lack of rails or other modern additions that would spoil this amazing ancient site means that you can not only go right up to the cliff's edge but also potentially fall to your doom below quite easily. When it's uncrowded, you can't help but f…
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Clarendon Dock
North of the Harbour Commissioner's Office is the restored Clarendon Dock. Leading off it are the dry docks where Belfast's shipbuilding industry was born – No 1 Dry Dock (1796–1800) is Ireland's oldest and remained in use until the 1960s; No 2 (1826) is still used occasionally. Between the two sits the pretty little Clarendon Building, now home to the offices of the Laganside Corporation.
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Grant Ancestral Homestead
Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822–85) led Union forces to victory in the American Civil War and later served as the USA's 18th president for two terms, from 1869 to 1877. His maternal grandfather, John Simpson, emigrated from County Tyrone to Pennsylvania in 1760, but the farm he left behind at Dergina has now been restored in the style of a typical Ulster smallholding, as it would have been during the time of Grant's presidency.
The furnishings in the Grant Ancestral Homestead are not authentic, but the original field plan of the farm survives together with various old farming implements. There's also an exhibition on the American Civil War, a picnic area and children's playg…
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Monasterboice
Crowing ravens lend an eerie atmosphere to Monasterboice, an intriguing monastic site containing a cemetery, two ancient church ruins, one of the finest and tallest round towers in Ireland, and two of the best high crosses.
Down a leafy lane in sweeping farmland, the original monastic settlement here is said to have been founded in the 5th or 6th century by St Buithe, a follower of St Patrick, although the site probably had pre-Christian significance. St Buithe's name somehow got converted to Boyne, and the river is named after him. An invading Viking force took over the settlement in 968, only to be comprehensively expelled by Donal, the Irish high king of Tara, who kille…
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Butter Slip
With its arched entry and stone steps, Butter Slip, a narrow and dark walkway connecting High St with St Kieran's St (previously called Low Lane) is the most picturesque of Kilkenny's many narrow medieval corridors. It was built in 1616 and once was lined with the stalls of butter vendors.
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Selskar Abbey
After Henry II murdered his friend Thomas Becket, he did penance at Selskar Abbey, founded by Alexander de la Roche in 1190. Basilia, the sister of Robert FitzGilbert de Clare , is thought to have married one of Henry II's lieutenants in the abbey. Its present ruinous state is a result of Cromwell's visit in 1649.
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Andrew Jackson Centre
The parents of the seventh US president left Carrickfergus in the second half of the 18th century. His ancestral home was demolished in 1860, but a replica thatched cottage complete with fireside crane and earthen floor now houses this memorial on the coast, 2km north of the castle. It has displays on the life of Jackson, the Jackson family in Ulster and Ulster's connection with the USA, and is open by appointment only; contact the tourist office in advance.
Next door is the US Rangers Centre, with a small exhibition on the first US rangers, who were trained during WWII in Carrickfergus before heading for Europe.
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Black Freren Gate
This is the only gate from the old Norman city walls still standing, albeit with the help of metal bracing to ensure the safety of those who pass through. Crumbling sections of the old walls remain throughout the central city.
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Cruachan Aí Visitor Centre
Anyone with an interest in Celtic mythology will be enthralled by the area around the village of Tulsk, which contains 60 ancient national monuments including standing stones, barrows, cairns and fortresses, making it the most important Celtic royal site in Europe.
The landscape and its sacred structures have lain largely undisturbed for the past 3000 years. It's hard to grasp just how significant the site is, as archaeological digs are continuing, but it has already been established that the site is bigger and older than Tara in County Meath and was at one time a major seat of Irish power. The site is currently being considered for Unesco World Heritage status.
The visitor…
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Confederation Hall Monument
On the corner of Parliament St and the road leading down to Bateman's Quay, this monument (really just a fragment) built into the Bank of Ireland marks the site where the national Parliament met from 1642 to 1649. Nearby is the carefully restored Grace's Castle, originally built in 1210, but lost to the family and converted into a prison in 1568, and then in 1794 into a courthouse, which it remains today. Rebels from the 1798 Rising were executed here.
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Dowth
The circular mound at Dowth is similar in size to Newgrange – about 63m in diameter – but is slightly taller at 14m high. It has suffered badly at the hands of everyone from road builders and treasure hunters to amateur archaeologists, who scooped out the centre of the tumulus in the 19th century. For a time, Dowth even had a tearoom ignobly perched on its summit. Relatively untouched by modern archaeologists, Dowth shows what Newgrange and Knowth looked like for most of their history. Because it's unsafe, Dowth is closed to visitors, though the mound can be viewed from the road between Newgrange and Drogheda. Excavations began in 1998 and will continue for years to come.…
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St John's Priory
Across the river stand the ruins of this priory, which was founded in 1200 and was noted for its many beautiful windows until Cromwell's visit. Nearby Kilkenny College dates from 1666. Its students included Jonathan Swift and the philosopher George Berkeley, but it now houses Kilkenny's county hall.
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Tholsel
The (City Hall) on High St was built in 1761 on the spot where Dame Alice Kyteler's maid, Petronella, was burned at the stake in 1324.
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West Clare Railway
A 2km vestige of this historic line survives near Moyasta on the Kilkee Rd (N67) 6km northwest of Kilrush. Run by volunteers, the beautifully restored steam-powered trains shuttle back and forth over the open land.
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