Aghaviller Round Tower and Church

The tower and church of Aghaviller can be found a short drive from exit 10 of the M19.
Built from sandstone the tower is just over 9.5 meters in height.
The doorway is set 4 meters from ground level.
The tower rests on a square stone plinth which is a feature that can only be found at one other tower (the near by Kilree).
The ground level doorway is a much later addition, added for help in the installation of a bell.
Dating of the tower is unknown, but the site has close ties with St Brennain

The church is dated 12th Century but was greatly altered in the 15th Century when a
residential tower was added.
The top of the church can be accessed via a stairway.
Mass was celebrated at Aghaviller as recently as 2008.

Access - The site is located just off the R701 on a very bad bend.
The church is very visible from the road and parking can be found driving up the lane way to the site.
This is a quite and peaceful graveyard but the proximity of the dense forest to the site can make it a little unsettling at times.
Aghaviller is probably the least well known of Kilkenny's round towers but should be added to your itinerary along with the others.    

Cloch An Phoill (Aghade) The Holed Stone

The Cloch An Phoill is a large flat granite stone.
This huge stone has a hole that has been pierced through it.
The stone is believed to have been a part of a megalithic tomb, with the hole used to pass food to the dead (after the sealing of the tomb).
The hole is about 30cm's in diameter.

The more recent history of the stone claims that Niall of the nine hostages tied up an enemy called Eochu with the use of a chain that was run through the hole.
The manacled Eochu managed to get free and exact revenge on Niall by taking his life in 405 AD.

The stone was also used for it's healing powers in the 18th Century, sick infants were passed through the hole in belief that this would aid the restoring of the infants health.

This is a very impressive stone which would be even more striking if it were upright in a field like Hurlstone Standing Stone Co Louth .

Access - The site is just a short drive from Tullow town (N81).
The stone which is well signposted can be found on your left in a field on a very bad bend so take care.  

Greengraves Portal Tomb aka The Kempe Stones

This was my second attempt to visit the superb Greengraves Portal Tomb
(also known as) The Kempe Stones.
The first attempt failed due to roadworks on the A20 close to the tomb.

My excitement at finding the site was somewhat overshadowed with finding the tomb close to being overgrown on one side with very tall nettles and other weeds.
The overgrown side would seem to be part of a lane/walk way that brings you to the tomb.
This is very much not in keeping with how you normally find Heritage sites in Northern Ireland. 

The tomb's impressive main capstone rests on two large portal stones, a smaller capstone sits at the back.
Everything about this tomb is just perfectly proportioned.
This is a site with real presence.  
The tomb rises to over 3 meters.
On the ground is evidence of what was once a cairn (a few loose boulders).

The chamber of the tomb was excavated in 1830, human bones were found.

Access - I came at the tomb from the A20, drove very slowly down Greengraves Road and spotted the tomb on my right at the end of a field.

What I did not spot was the bull in next field who had access to an opening into the tombs field.
This brought about the lead shot as yours truly took to the higher ground to avoid said bull.  

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.