Pictures are worth a Thousand words

This past weekend we took a day trip to see Lough Crew and Trim Castle. Our morning started out 9 am, which is extremely early if I do say so myself. We loaded the bus and headed out of Maynooth. The first stopof the day was Loughcrew. The Loughcrew Cairns form the largest complex of Passage Graves in Ireland. The Cairns are megalithic structures containing symbolic engravings.

Symbolic doodles, your guess is as good as mine as to what they mean!

 Like other passage graves in Ireland, they have clear astrological alignments. There is evidence of many uses during the millenia, but it is generally agreed that they were originally built about 4000 bc as burial chambers. They were excavated by amateurs at the beginning of the twentieth century, when many of the artifacts were removed. A blessing in disguise, perhaps, as recent archaeological scholars have concentrated on despoiling less explored sites, leaving Loughcrew relatively undeveloped and unknown; the best kept secret in archaeological Ireland. In a landscape of inspiring beauty and intriguing history, Loughcrew is rich in historical and archaeological, religious and natural interest.

Some of the girls looking into the Cairn

One of ancient Ireland’s major roads passes through Loughcrew, crossing the great Road of the Chariots nearby. The lakes abound with cranógs, and the drumlins are topped with innumerable motte and bailey forts. The remarkable Loughcrew Gardens, partly dating from the seventeenth century, and the Family Church of St Oliver Plunkett are nearby. The Loughcrew Cairns are thought to be 5,000 years old. They are the oldest feature of this extraordinary area, and, set on the highest hills in this part of Ireland, dominate the area now as they have done for all time. They may be the oldest calendar known, and may even be the world’s oldest existing dwellings. The Loughcrew Cairns have not been exposed, researched and developed like nearby Newgrange (which you will read moreabout on a later entry). They thus remain relatively unspoilt and unvisited, although the Office of Public Works keeps a Ranger on site in summer months and has improved coach access. The Cairns are in two groups; Carnbane West, about 15 cairns, including Cairn L which is roofed and contains superb symbolic carvings in good condition. This group is some 2 km walk from the Car Park on gently sloping ground. Carnbane East includes Cairn T, also roofed and with excellent engravings, and is a shorter but steeper walk.

Nicole in the exposed Cairn

The exposed cairns have suffered severely from acid rain erosion, removing much of the relief of the engravings. On our trip we had to climb a steep hill that went on for ages. when we finally reached the top the view was amazing. One of the local legends tells that if you sit upon the witches chair and make a wish it will come true. The “chair” is a big stone slab that is now used as an altar for pagan rituals.While we were viewing the Cairns we found many random objects such as a tweezers and a lighter lying on the ground.

Me in the Witches chair making my wish

We were warned to take our walk down the hill slowly as it is very easy to slip and fall and go tumbling down the hill head first through all of the sheep poo…Well you all know me and my ever so graceful ways, needless to say i didnt listen. I ended up on my butt in the mud. And it was very unpleasent, but on a brighter note i saved my camera from taking a mud bath. And i really hope to goodness that i just slipped in mud and not sheep poo, cuz that would have been nasty. Bu the view from the Cairns was gorgeous, you coudl see for miles. Well at least i believe you would ahve been able to see for miles, as it was foggy and windy on Saturday it was a little hard to see for those miles, but never the less the view was still amazing.

this was the view from the Cairns. I believe this was taken halfway up the hill!!

After our hour long visit to the Loughcrew Cairns we drove about an hour to the town of Trim. We stopped to eat lunch before moving on to the castle. The food at the resturant was amazing you got lots and a big piece of cake for dessert. I had the fish and chips (french fries) as the other choice was pork (ICK!!). It was absolutely delectible and the best part was there was so much food on my plate I couldnt even finish it, but of course i had enough room for dessert. It was the best piece of cake that i have ever eaten and it came with real cream…it wasnt whipped topping (it was great!!!). After our giant lunch we walked throughte town and on to the castle grounds. Trim is home to Ireland’s largest Anglo-Norman castle. It used in the filming of Braveheart in 1994. Trim Castle, the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, was constructed over a thirty-year period by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter. Hugh de Lacy was granted the Liberty of Meath by King Henry II in 1172 in an attempt to curb the expansionist policies of Richard de Clare, (Strongbow).  Construction of the massive three storied Keep, the central stronghold of the castle, was begun c. 1176 on the site of an earlier wooden fortress. This massive twenty-sided tower, which is cruciform in shape, was protected by a ditch, curtain wall and moat. In Medieval times, Trim Castle stood like an imposing stone sentinel and powerful symbol of norman strength at the edge of the Pale, the small area of Anglo-Norman influence on Ireland’s eastern coast.

A Tower on the Gate Wall and Outer Keep

To go beyond the Pale was to enter the hostile world of the Gaelic Irish. Here at the edge, the two sides would have met – in conflict and in battle. We were guided through the main keep by a tour guide who really knew his stuff. The original keep was made of wood and de Lacy eventually built a stone keep in 1176. His family of 5 and the constable’s family were the only ones living in the keep along with their 12 male servants. There were no female servants as the families were small and not in need of female servants. The keep was built in three stages and when touring the inside of the castle you are able to see the sites of the two additions. The keep was built for defense and not comfort. you can find many arrow slits in the walls and very few windows. The arrow slits were constructed so only arrows were allowed out and not in. The windows that are present were small on the outside and large on the inside to allow for light to get through but no people. The stairs were all spiral staircases that spun a certain way so as to give the home field advantage so to speak. So when retreating up the stairs or going down a right handed sword man could have the advantage.  The chapel room was really the only room that had a real window tha twas facing east. It would have been covered by some sort of animal hide, mostly likely the lining of a sheeps stomach. This allowed for the light to go in but not the wind. You would have seen tapestries onteh walls not for decoration but rather to keep teh heat in, as there were no fire places.

Spiral Staircase in Trim Castle

There were no remains of ovens at this castle so i was not able to climb into it, but i did stand in the only fire place int eh whole castle,but the picture has mysteriously disappeared. Over all the trip to Loughcrew and Trim Castle was a huge success. Much Love til later, peace out!

So this past weekend the girls from SMC travelled to Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is aproximately 6 hours from Maynooth, Co. Kildare which is where i attend school. The drive up was long and very curvy….it sucked basically…But we were able to try or first Irish MacDonalds which was really exciting as it is healthier than eating at an American MacDonalds….less grease and smaller portions…our first stop in Northern Ireland was the hostel in which we stayed we arrived around 11 pm on friday night and commenced making dinner…yes we ate dinner at 11:45 pm….it was strange to say the least… our hostel was located right by the Kinora Terrace on the Causeway Coast. It provided a beautiful veiw of the ocean

Kinora Terrace

…After our hostel expierence our site seeing began… we started out by driving to Old Bushmills Distillery which still runs today. This distillary produces a single malt whiskey and other irish spirits like Balmers and Guinness. We learned all about the process of making whiskey from our grizzily adams looking tour guide…I am now regreting not taking a picture of him, as he looked like a homeless man as personal hygiene is not high on the list here in Ireland…anyway…here is brief overview of what I learned…

Old Bushmilles Distillery

Bushmills purchases barley from farmers in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is then dried and malted. They then grind the malted barley in to grist which then gets added to water in the masher and becomes mash…the mash is drained and the pulp is given to local farmers to feed cattle and the liquid is put in storage tanks with yeast to create the alcohol. It is then filtered three times to get a very high percent of alcohol. it is then watered down and placed in aging barrels to get its color and flavor. All of the barrels used at Bushmills come from different places and have been used before.  After it has aged for a minimum of ten years it is then brought to teh bottling plant and bottled and marked for sale…. and this my friends is how some of the finest whiskey inthe world is created…at the end of the tour we each got to sample the whiskey and which was grand…Our next stop was Dunluce Castle.

Dunluce Castle

As you can see Dunluce was absolutely gorgeous!!! I immediately fell in love with this place…it had neat little hiding places and beautiful stone walls. I was very preoccupied by my own thoughts i forgot to listen to the tour guide as she told us the history of the Castle. I do remember though that the main par tof the Cstle was built on an island to protect its inhabitants from intruders and once it be came safe to do so the MacDonald clan added on to the Castle and built on the mainland.

I attempted to climb in...turns out that wasnt a grand idea

The castle had a kitchen in which there were two stone ovens and I attempted to climb inot one as i believed in to be a good idea at the time…needless to say I ended up hitting my head on the way in and didnt attempt to climb in anyfurther. teh other parts of the castle were great too!! many of the walls are falling apart and this gave teh Castle a sense of history and a nice homey feeling. We were able to expore the castle on our own and went up into teh lookout tower and and downteh side of the cliff to the bottom. the Castle is in the perfect setting as is borders the ocean and is on a beautiful grassy cliff.On clear days much like the saturday on which we were there you are able to see Scotland inthe distance. When we were at Dunluce Castle we were able to see the tip of Scotland

Look really really closely and you can see the briefest of lines, and that is the Coast line of Scotland

The next stop on our tour of Northern Ireland was Giant’s Causeway. There is a great myth that goes along with this landmark.Legend tells of Finn MacCool wanting to do battle with a rival giant in Scotland, known as benandonner. the 2 giants had never met, so Finn built enormous stepping stones acros the sea so that the Scottish giant could cros to Ireland to face the challenge. When Finn saw teh great bulk of Benandonner approaching, he fled home in fear and asks his wife, Oonagh, to hide him. Oonagh is said to have disguised Finn as a baby, and put him in a huge cradle. When Benandonner saw the size of the infant , he assumed the father must be gigantic indeed, and fled home in terror ripping up the causeway in case he was followed.

Giant's Causeway from the top of the hill

The Geological explanation for the Giant’s Causeway is as follows: About 60 million years ago after the dinosaurs but befor man the landscape in IReland was different. Forests grew and rivers floweed on a land made of chalk. The chalk, or white limestone, can still be seen east and west of the Giant’s Causeway. Much earlier in the Earth’s history the continents we recognize now were joined in one huge landmass called Pangaea. The Continents sit on great foundations known as plates. these plates pulled apart slowly, separating the continents. Europe and North America split apart, forming the Atlantic Ocean. Along the line of seperatioin, through deep fissures, hot magma surfaced as lava. this spread over the chalk landscape, burning forests and filling river valleys. The Giant’s Causeway is basalt, solidified lava from one of the flows that filled a river valley. It cooled and cracked, not unlike mud when a pond dries up. Unlike mud, which cracks only on teh surface, the cracking in the lava went through the depth of the flow, creating columns.

Giant Causeway, an Example of the Columns

The Causeway lava cooled and shrank, splitting apart to create a pavement-like surface and tall columns. Most have five and six sides, but some have four seven, and eight. Ther is supposed to be only one with three sides, and I did not find it but I tried! Throughout the Causeway one can find different rock shapes that are said to have specific meaning to the myth of Finn MacCool. One can find things like the camel’s back, the stepping stones, the Giant’s boot, and the organ (for pictures ofthis items see the end of the post). It was said that Finn through of his boot so he could ran faster and that he built the organ for his son to play on. Our fourth and final stop was to see a giant stone cross. Mind you this cross was not located in Northern Ireland just north of Maynooth.

Giant Cross

The cross is located in a monastery, Monasterboice, that was founded by St. Buite, who died in 521 A.D. No building of such early a date survives in the monastery. The oldest monuments are the three high crosses and the round tower all dating back to the 10th century.  The Crosses belong to the scriptual group, so called becasue of the biblical scenes they depict. The round tower which must have been erected shortly after 968, was damaged by a fire in 1098. Beyond a list of Abbots little is known about the history of the monastery.

The round bell tower at Monasterboice

Ther are no records of the Viking forays, though the Vikings occupied the place for a time before they were drivenout with great slaughter in 968. With the foudnation of teh Cisterican Abbey at the Mellifont in 1142, Monasterboice fell into decay. The site was occupied by a parachial church int eh 13th century.

The Setting sun in Monasterboice

This is just a brief history lesson on Monasterboice. As we were leaving the monastery the sun was beginning to set and this created a lovely end to our eventful day.