Clonmacnoise

On our way home from Galway we stopped off at another ancient monastical site, Clonmacnoise. This site was founded by St. Ciarán (pronounced Kieran) in 548 AD. It is in a beautiful spot, overlooking the river Shannon in County Offaly. James and I were commenting on our drive there how the monks seemed to have a great knack for choosing their monastic sites in very beautiful spots, but right in the middle of nowhere. However, once we arrived and watched the short introductory video explaining the history of the site, we realised Clonmacnoise was not actually the middle of nowhere after all! It was actually chosen because it was the meeting spot between two major communication lines - running North/South was the river Shannon and running East/West were gravel ridges left over by glaciers from the Ice Age. These ridges were used as paths across the country. So Clonmacnoise was built at the meeting place of these geographical features. It was also an important place as it was situated between the provinces of the powerful kings of Meath and Connauct.

Clonmacnoise has been an important site for the past 1500 years and people have come there to live, pray, learn, work and teach but also to murder and steal! The settlement would once have stretched over about 10 acres and was more a small town than just a monastery. There used to be many wooden houses and buildings, however what is left now are the stone buildings including 2 round towers, 3 famous high crosses, the ruins of a cathedral and seven churches and many early Christian grave slabs. It was raided many times over its history by the Vikings (again!) but also by the Irish themselves and then the Normans.

We enjoyed our walk amongst the ruins, imagining what the settlement and life must have been like back then!

 

This tiny church (above) is acknowledged as the site where St. Ciarán himself is buried and it has attracted thousands of pilgrims. St. Ciarán's feast day is still celebrated here each year.

The plaque above commemorates the visit of Pope John Paul II here in 1979.

 

 

 

 

One of my favourite ruins is the castle (below) which was built by the Chief Governor of Ireland in 1214. From some angles it looks like it could easily be pushed off the edge of the small hill it is resting on!

Clonmacnoise is famous for its excellent examples of high crosses and grave slab inscriptions, many of which are in great condition. The 3 best examples of high crosses have been moved indoors to the museum area. The Cross of the Scriptures is one of these and its ringed cross and shaft were all carved from the one piece of sandstone.

Below you can see some other examples of carvings from the churches and the grave slabs which date from the 8th to the 12th century.

 We arrived home in time to get ready for another religious celebration - Easter! The girls prepared their notes and drawings for the Easter Bunny as well as a basket of snacks for him! They did let the Easter Bunny know that as it is still so cold here they did not expect an outdoor egg hunt, an indoor one would be just fine (luckily, he listened to that advice!)

And this morning, the Easter Bunny had found us in Ireland and delivered some goodies! We then went to Easter Mass in Dun Laoghaire (all in Irish!!) and then enjoyed a lovely meal of Duck à l'orange!

 

 

 Happy Easter!