Ireland - 2000
In July of 2000, we took a two week tour of Ireland. Our starting point was Shannon Airport on the west coast. Shannon Airport is located at the southern end of County Clare on the west coast. Flying into Shannon, I got my first glimpse of the Irish countryside with its glowing green patchwork of the fields separated by stone walls.
County Clare
Cliffs of Moher
The next day we set off to see our first tourist site, the Cliffs of Moher. When we arrived, it was raining and very foggy but we trudged out to the cliffs anyway. At the cliff's edge we could hardly see anything due to the fog. That was a big disappointment to me. We headed on to Doolin. While exploring Doolin, we went down to sea and were able to see the Cliffs of Moher clearly. The rapid change from clear to rain to clear again was my first lesson in just how changeable the Irish weather is. We headed back to the Cliffs of Moher so I could get a good look at the 700 foot high cliffs.
Carran Church
Heading out of Doolin, our plan was to see the Poulnabrone Dolmen and then head on Galway city. Along the road we came to this ruined church which turned out to be a special place. It's built over a ceremonial mound from prehistoric times. To me, it's fascinating that the people of 4000 years ago, as well as the people of 1000 years ago, find the same site sacred. I too felt a special sense of peace at the sight.
In the church yard, we met an gentleman named Paddy McNamara who has done extensive research about the church and shared with us some of the special points about the church. He pointed out to us the symbol of the Knights Templar and the knight head pictured below. He also told us the rocks visible in the church yard were tombstones from freedom fighters killed in an 18th century uprising against the British. The uprising failed and the families were allowed to bury their dead in the church yard but were not permitted to mark the graves with the names of the dead.
Poulnabrone Dolmen
The Poulnabrone Dolmen sits on the edge of the Burren. The Burren is a very rugged, rocky region. The Dolmen sits on top of a rocky mound and in photographs looks larger than it actually is.
Poulnabrone means "the hole of the sorrows." The gentlemen we had met in the yard of the Carran church told us that what the dolmen sits on is more significant than the dolmen itself.
The power of the Dolmen is not in its size but rather the energy it radiates. Although I'm not a person believing in the supernatural, I had the feeling at the Dolmen that it is protected by some force I cannot define.
Connemara
The Connemara is located in northern County Galway. It possesses a rugged beauty and very soft light not seen even elsewhere on the island.
Killary Harbour
Killary Harbour is located on the northern edge of the Connemara. It used to be considered Ireland's only fjord but it's fjord status is now disputed. Regardless, it is a stunning inlet from the Atlantic. The town of the Leenane is located at the end of the inlet. Leenane's cemetery is the most picturesque final resting place I've ever seen.
Clonmacnois
Clonmacnois is a ruined monastery that dates back to the 7th century. It is located in the middle of the country approximately halfway between Galway and Dublin. We stopped there on our drive to Dublin. The ruins are from the 9th century and later. Nothing remains of the earliest structures because they were constructed of wood. In the 9th century, the building materials shifted from wood to stone.
Clonmacnois is on a spectacular site overlooking the River Shannon which you can see in some of the pictures below. The monastery was founded by Saint Ciaran and he definitely had excellent aesthetic taste in picking the site. The unfortunate part about being on the River Shannon was that it made the monastery very accessible to both native and foreign raiders who frequently sacked it.
The most notable surviving treasures from Clonmacnois are the carved high crosses, some examples of which you can see in the pictures below.
Glendalough
From Dublin, we headed south to Glendalough located in the picturesque Wicklow mountains. Glendalough Monastery has one of the few surviving completely intact round towers in Ireland.
Browne's Hill Dolmen
Heading back to the west coast, one of our stops was at the Browne's Hill Dolmen just outside of the town of Carlow. This dolmen has the largest capstone of any dolmen in Europe, weighing over 100 tons. It is believed to have been constructed over 4000 years ago. As you can see from the picture, it has partially collapsed. Dingle
Once we made it back to the west, we headed to the Dingle Peninsula. Dingle is just north of one of the most visited tourist areas of the entire island, the Ring of Kerry. We opted to spend two days on Dingle and skip the Ring of Kerry because we wanted to see an area less touristed and had grown tired of all the driving we were doing.
On Dingle we definitely drove less as it is a small peninsula, but we didn't find the second half of what we looking for. Dingle has become a tourist destination. However, having a couple of days there allowed us to get off the beaten bath and see some very memorable sites.
Riasc
Riasc is a 5th century monastic site.
Dingle Peninsula
Megaliths
Our search for megaliths took us off of the beaten path. Although these megaliths are only a few miles from the town of Dingle, they are down narrow, dirt farm roads with no signage. We did not encounter any other tourist on these searches.
To find these hidden sites, we needed the combination of an archeological survey for the Peninsula and an Ordinance Survey map. Ordinance Survey maps are the equivalent of the US Geological Survey maps in the US.
This carved stone was the first megalith that caught my eye from our Dingle Peninsula archeological survey book. We decided to search for it and found it in a cow pasture next to a barn, down a long dirt road. I'm completely fascinated by how these concentric circle symbols have thrived in Ireland for 4000 years. The decorative style of the Celts (who invaded the island at about 100 BC) seems to me to have been influenced over the subsequent centuries by exposure to these far more ancient symbols. Considering that little is known about the pre-Celtic culture that created these symbols, I find myself contemplating what these symbols might reflect about that culture, and in what way the unique Irish landscape may have played a part in their creation. They seem to fit perfectly with the places in which they were placed.
Lough Gur
Grange Stone Circle
Our last stop on our way back to Shannon Airport was Lough Gur. The area surrounding Lough Gur is very rich in both megalithic sites and archeological finds. The Grange Circle at Lough Gur is the largest in Ireland with 118 stones. Near the main circle is a smaller one.
Standing in the center of the circle brought me a sense of peace. I wondered whether my sense of peace was due something marked or created by the circle or was due to a focusing of my mind from the circle.
Heading Home
Lough Gur was our last site. We drove on to Limerick and stayed the night in a B&B. We headed back to Shannon Airport where we had arrived two weeks earlier. That morning the weather was very grey and overcast even by Irish standards. As our plane rose through the clouds we caught just a few glimpses of the landscape below. It was the same patchwork of the glowing green fields and stone walls we had seen on our flight in. It was time for us to say to goodbye to Ireland, for now. However, we're are sure to return to experience both the beauty of the scenery and the magic of experiencing 6000 years of history on one island.
