Parkavonear Castle

Located only a short drive from Killarney town you can find the ruin of Parkavonear Norman Castle.

The Castle is very unusual in that it is round unlike the majority of Norman castles of that time which tended to be rectangular.
Originally the castle would have had a mote around it with the doorway higher that the later one that you can see today
The castle is dated  13th Century and is one of many that came to be built following the 1169 invasion of Ireland by Anglo-Norman forces.

What remains today is pretty basic.
The wall's are 2 meters thick with the interior about 9 meters in diameter.
The castle is two storeys high with a stairway built into the wall of the ruin.
The first storey still has the remains of a fireplace.

Access - The castle is right beside the lower part of Aghadoe Church & Round Tower graveyard.
The lane way that brings you down to the castle is narrow (it runs alongside the lower part of the graveyard)
so park up at the church and walk down to the ruin.

The castle can be found in it's own neat enclosure, the setting for this unique ruin could not be better with one of Killarney's lakes acting as a backdrop.       








  

Devenish Island Monastic Settlement (damhinis island of oxen)

   
Located in the southern part of lough Erne is the stunning Devenish Island Monastic Settlement.

To say Devinish had been on my wish list for a long time would be a huge understatement.
Once I saw images of a complete round tower and the remains of another Devenish went to the top of my wish list.

So at the end of last summer and the start of a family holiday in Donegal (with a slight detour ) we found ourselves standing at the pier for the island. £10 for the Mulraney gang (outstanding value) and we were on our way.

The first thing that strikes you is how large the settlement is ( roughly 70 acres ) and apart from the round tower this site really has so much more to offer.

The Devenish Island monastic community was founded in the 6th century by Saint Molaise

Read more at: http://www.chooseireland.com/fermanagh/devenish-island-monastery/

//www.chooseireland.com/fermanagh/devenish-island-monastery/

roughly 70 acres

Read more at: http://www.chooseireland.com/fermanagh/devenish-island-monastery/

roughly 70 acres

Read more at: http://www.chooseireland.com/fermanagh/devenish-island-monastery/

Devenish was founded in the sixth century by Saint Molaise.
The Annals of Ulster record that in 836, “all the churches of Loch Erne, together with Cluain Eois and Daimhinis (Devenish Island) were destroyed by the gentiles (Vikings).” The monastery was rebuilt after these invasions.

The island was attacked again by the Vikings in 1157 and again in 1360.
The round tower is dated between these two attacks.
The five stories high round tower is an impressive 25 meters and can be climbed to the very top.
Located beside the tower is the base of a second round tower, information on this second tower is hard to come by. 

The site also has a 13th Century high cross that has some beautiful elaborate carvings.
Apart from the tower and high cross the site has a 15th Century Augustinian Priory of St Mary (second image).
The bottom image is of Teampull Mor, The Great Church which dates from the 13th Century.

Access - The Island is well signposted from Enniskillen, further information can be found Here. 

Bunlahinch Clapper Bridge

While on a working holiday in Mayo a couple of years ago I went to Cross Strand Beach with my family and on the way back we came across the very cool Bunlahinch Clapper Bridge. 

Clapper bridges like this one were designed to cross wide shallow rivers and were used as footbridges.
It is thought that this bridge was built sometime between the 1840s and 50s by  the Irish Church Mission.

Clapper bridges are a pre-historic form of stone-built bridge. 
The word clapper originates from Sussex England where it came from the use of the word plank.  

The basic structure consists of small stone piers or pillars, which are spanned by flat stone slabs or planks.
The bridge is over 45.5 meters in length and over 0.5 in width.

The bridge is part of the Clew Bay Heritage trail (No14) and is very close to the superb  Srahwee Wedge Tomb .  

The bridge is well worth a visit along with the many other great sites that form the Heritage Trail.
Signposting is good for this site as it is with the other sites on the trail. 

Conor and Daire give you an idea of the scale of the bridge. 

Ballynoe Portal Tomb

Continuing with my good run of late with tombs, after trying on and off for about the last 5 years I finally got to see the wonderful Ballynoe Portal Tomb.

The tomb is only held up with one stone.  Some of the other stones that have fallen are lying under and around  the tomb.

One of the things that really makes this site so special is the large capstone with the ridges and grooves which are said to have been caused by weathering.

The capstone is over 3 meters in length and 3 meters in width.
The height of the tomb is just under 2 meters.

The setting for Ballynoe could not be better, green fields all around with the Derreen river running close to the tomb.  

Access -

This is the real problem with Ballynoe!  A couple of years ago I tried to visit the tomb via the farm it was on. This proved to be spectacularly unsuccessful with yours truly being turned away by the farmer, who by the time I was leaving had me convinced my directions were all wrong.

Since then I have tried to approach the farmer through a couple of locals (with no luck) and more recently with a local historical society (again no luck).
So in the meantime I pushed Ballynoe further back in my wish list, that is until having some recent success with a couple of other local tombs I decided to try again and started investigating alternative options to get to this site.

My new route involved approaching the tomb from the opposite side of the farm, this route was found via Google Earth with the help of Google Street View confirming the new starting point.
This route brings you to the tomb via an old track way, with a walk that will take you about 15 minutes or so, taking this walk you cant help notice a giant of a standing stone on your left as you walk towards the tomb.
As time was against me and the standing stone was in a cropped field I gave it a nod and said "another day to myself".

Please feel free to get in contact if you need more information about the route I took for Ballynoe.

                                                                                                                                 TM.   
       

Grannagh (Granny) Castle

Located on the banks of the River Suir in south County Kilkenny stands the striking ruin of Grannagh
( Granny ) Castle.

The castle (13th Century) is said to have been built by the le Poers who had been granted the whole of Waterford and southern portion of Kilkenny after the Norman invasion in 1169.

When Eustace le Poer was executed for treason in 1375 Edward the III granted the castle to James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond.

The main tower house of the castle was built in the 15th Century and in keeping with many others of it's kind at that time it was both a sign of wealth and for defence purposes. 

The Castle was taken by Cromwell's forces in 1650 and was mostly destroyed after being fired on with two cannon's.

The Board of Public Works did some restoration work in 1925, today you will find the grounds in and around the castle are well kept.

Access - The castle can be seen from the N24 (just off the the M9). 
Parking is not a problem as you are taken down a slip road which leaves you right beside the castle.   










 



  

Ballygraney Portal Tomb

The real star of the show here at Ballygraney Portal Tomb (apart from the photo bombing horse) is the giant capstone that sits on this tomb.
The capstone is close to 4 meters in length and  just over 3 meters in width.
This massive stone viewed from the back looks like a huge turtle shell (ninja like).

The portal stones are just over 1 meter in height. The door slab stone  is close to 2.5m in width and over 1 meter in height.

From the back of the tomb at the side it is possible to climb down into the tomb.
From the the inside you can see the side stones of the tomb which has three on each side.
Sorry to report but I could not get any images of the inside of the tomb as it was very overgrown (and was being used to store animal feed bags).

Finding this great tomb has been the highlight of my few visits in 2014 (so far), this was thanks to the great Megalithic Monuments Of Ireland   web site where I first came across this superb tomb.

Access - Is going to be your main problem I called to the farm whose land the tomb is on and I was being refused point blank permission to go and look at the tomb.
On the point of leaving I happened to ask a question which resulted in the owner and myself having a mutual acquaintance in common (this got me the go ahead to visit the tomb).   










  

Turlough Round Tower

Turlough Round Tower is a well kept but a somewhat squat looking tower.
It is claimed the tower may date back to the 9th Century, but recorded documentation of the tower came much later in the 17th Century.  
The tower compared to others is a smallish 23 Meters tall.
The arched doorway is just under 4 meters above the ground level, but has been blocked up with mortared stone.
There are four windows at different levels, with four more at the top just below the cap.   
The OPW are said to have carried out repairs on the tower in 1880 which included re capping the tower.

The church is dated from the 18th Century but it incorporates a window and plaque which both date back to the 16th Century.

Access - You can see the tower from the N5, parking is not a problem.
The graveyard is quite steeply sloped in parts, so mind your footing.