Kilmacduagh Monastery

St Colman's Church (Templebeg MacDuagh)

The Cathedral (Templemore Mac Duagh)

The Church of St John the Baptist (Teampuill Owen)

Teampuill Owen and Glebe House

St Mary's Church (Temple Mary)

The O'Heyne's Church

The stunning Kilmacduagh monastery was founded by St Colman in the 7thCentury.

Famed as the tallest round tower in Ireland Kilmacduagh is 34 meters in height with the doorway set 7 meters above ground level.
The walls at the base are said to be just under 2 meters in thickness. 
The tower is dated from the 12th Centurty. 
The tower has quite a visible lean to it - said to be 0.5 meter from the vertical.

The biggest church building on the site is the cathedral ( Templemore Mac Duagh). dated between the 11th and 12th Century. Not having too much time and the fact the gate into the the cathedral was locked I was unable to get a close up of the interior.

The Church of St John the Baptist (Teampuill Owen) is in the field next to cathedral.  
It dates from the 10th Century which would make this church the oldest building on the site.

The Glebe House is in the same field as Teampuill Owen. 
Dated the 14th Century it is thought to have been the Abbots living quarters.
The building has a real fortified look to it. 
For closer inspection a key can be obtained from a local B&B to visit the inside.

The building in the foreground of the lead image is St Colman's church (Templebeg MacDuagh). 
Information is pretty hard to come by about this church.
To be honest only that I was looking for something a bit different for the tower shot I don't think I would have come across this church.

St Mary's church (Temple Mary)13th Century is divided from the rest of the site by a road. 
For those with more time a key can be got from the above mentioned local B&B to explore more.

Located at the furthest point from the round tower is The O'Heyne's Church 13th Century. 
Again this church was locked up on the day of my visit but looks to have some very nice features inside.

Access - Kilmacduagh is a short drive from Gort, Co Galway.  
The site is signposted with plenty of parking available. 
You will see the site from a long way off due to the round tower.  












  

Old Mellifont Abbey

Old Mellifont Abbey was the first Cistercian monastery founded in Ireland.
St Malachy brought the European monastic lifestyle to Ireland in 1142.

Such was the power of Mellifont, that many of the monks who started out in Mellifont went on to form many other cistercian monasteries in Ireland. More than 20 such abbeys were built during this period.

Mellifont despite some problems mainly flourished, this was mostly because of its size and the surrounding fertile land

In 1539 Mellifont became one of the first monasteries to be dissolved by Henry VIII.  Much of the abbeys brickwork was then used in the building of a fortified house.                

William of Orange used Mellifont as a headquarters during The Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

By the 18th century Mellifont lay in ruin having long since been abandoned.

Taking a walk around the perimeter of what is left of the abbey it is not hard to imagine the many monks (upwards of 100) that were housed in this vast site.

The stand out feature of the site is the 13th century octagonal Lavabo.
This was used by the monks to wash their hands before prayer.
To the left of the Lavabo in image No 4  is a 14th century chapter house (this was closed on the day of my visit).                                                     
The site also has a gateway close to the main entrance.  Due to the time of year of my visit I was unable to access the field its in because of  marshy/boggy conditions

The visitors centre is open May to October, which is probably the best time to visit and not November as yours truly did.






    

Moyne Castle

This large spacious ruin of Moyne Castle is dated to the 16th Century, although a lot of what you can see today was added at a later stage.
The castle falls right on the Galway Mayo boarder with both county's claiming the castle, all I can say is when I google mapped the castle it fell on the Mayo side.
Either way it is signposted on your right coming from the main Headford - Cong  R334 road.

David MacJonyn (Jennings) Blake was owner in 1574, Ulick Earl of Clanricarde then got it by confiscation in 1585.
Richard  his successor got a re-grant of the castle, with four quarters of land in 1610.

The castle passed hands a few more times mostly staying in the Blake family until they moved to Merlin Park Galway.

Access - The hardest part of getting to see this castle is where to park, the road is very narrow and twisty so great care should be taken wherever you park as you make your way to and from the castle.

Dysart O'Dea Round Tower and Church

The Round Tower and Church of  Dysart O'Dea dated 12th Century, can be found in a lovely setting just a short drive from Ennis Co Clare.

The round tower rises to over 14 and a half meters (at its highest point).
The doorway is 4.5 meters from the base and is arched with six blocks.
There are two slit windows at ground level (a patch up job ?), which give you a good view of the inside.

The stand out feature of the church is the Romanesque doorway.
There are 19 stones in this arch which are carved with twelve human heads and nine heads of animals. 
The present church stands on the site of an early Christian monastery founded by St. Tola in the 8th century.

The site also has a High Cross to the east of the church, which I was unable to photograph due to it being 'guarded' by a prize bull.


Access
The site is signposted from the R476 and from that you take a narrow road which brings you to the tower and church. 

Parking is not a problem.

Ballyloughan Castle

This vast ruins of Ballylouhan Castle can be found just a short drive from the R724 off the main Bagenalstown  Fenagh road.
Like the nearby Ballymoon Castle very little is known about the history of Ballyloughan.
What is known or thought is that it was probably built in the 13th century.
The owners were probably the Kavanagh family who were prominent in Carlow at that time.
The fully enclosed site would have had four towers and it is though that the castle was originally surrounded by a moat.
The stand out feature of this site is the gatehouse. (From the inside you can climb to an upper level.)
Access; the castle is on private land but is well signposted from the surrounding area.
The road/lane which brings you up to the castle is quite narrow so park as close as you can to the entrance.   
   

Oughterard Round Tower

The Round Tower is over 10 meters high and has a narrow round-headed doorway.
The site is said to date back to an old monastery which was founded here in the 6th century.
The Church which is beside the tower is said to have been built in 1609, but may be earlier.
It has an intact east window and partially preserved barrel-vaulting.
This is a great site with a graveyard that is kept superb all year round.
Oughterard is located only a short drive from the N7, parking is not great I parked on the road beside the graveyard.