Ireland: June 6 - Glendalough Monastery, Kilkenny and Kilcooly Abbey

Today we took a day trip out of Dublin to the south with a first stop at Glendalough Monastery in County Wicklow, then a visit to the city of Kilkenny in County Kilkenny and then the Abbey of Kilcooly in County Tipperary. Over the last year I have been following a series of Podcasts on medieval Irish history. These Podcasts are the work of Fin Dwyer who was trained as an archaeologist but decided he like medieval Irish history better. He and a friend, guide Jamie Goldrick, organized a one day tour of these three medieval sites.. Pat and I found out about it before we left for our trip and since these were sites we wanted to see we signed up for the tour.

We met at Dublin Castle and hit the road at 8:00 AM. Our first stop was Glendalough. This is a monastery site in County Wicklow that was founded in the 6th century by St. Kevin. The word Glendalough translates at the valley of the two lakes. Here we are having just arrived. Fin is the guy in the foreground holding the iPad, Jamie is behind him locking up our van.

Here we are entering the monastery. Most of the building and stone work we saw dated from the 10th and 11th century. Before the site was destroyed, these arches would have been part of a gateway tower that controlled access to the site.

This stone is interesting. It is just inside the first archway with a cross carved in it. It delineates the boundary of the area of refuge. If you were being pursued, once you passed this stone you were granted sanctuary and could remain in the monastery for up to a year. Hopefully, you could work out your difficulties in that time or at least be allowed to leave the country.

Here is the round tower that just about any monastery or abbey in Ireland has to have. The roof was rebuilt in the 19th century using the original stones. It stands about 100 feet high and once had six floors connected by ladders. The four windows at the top point in the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west). It would have served as a bell tower in its day.

There are local families that still have burial rights on the grounds and so the cemetery is still in use. You can see the lower and smaller lake in the background.

Here we are in front of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. At the time it was built it was the most important church in this area of Ireland and remained so until Dublin eventually superseded it in the 13th century. It was destroyed by English forces in 1398.

Here we are in the nave of the church looking towards the sanctuary where the altar would have been located.

Here I'm in the sanctuary and looking into the nave. Pat's all bundled up as it was cold and windy but no rain.

This rock with the cavity in it is interesting as it would have been a ritual stone used in pagan religious ceremonies for holding offering for the gods. The fact that it's incorporated in the wall of the cathedral is a symbol that Christianity had replaced the pagan religions.

Here is a photo of some of the detail in the arch between the nave and the sanctuary in the cathedral. In its day this was probably a fairly ornate church.

Here we are walking down to St. Kevin's Church for some reason or other referred to as the "Kitchen." For its belfry it has a small round tower.

If you look at the front of the church you can see the original size of the church and see how much it has been expanded.

The interior of this church is very simple and it has a semicircular ceiling that supports the steeply inclined roof. You can see a small opening in the ceiling which is how you got access to the croft or roof chamber.

Here is the ruin of another small church.

Here is the upper lake. You can see the waves and white caps on the lake as the wind was really blowing. When St. Kevin first set up this site as a monastic retreat his hut was up on the slope at the upper end of the church. He selected this site for its isolation and privacy and that was finally the reason for the decline of the site as it was too far off the beaten path to remain a major center of the Church. The cathedrals that were built in Dublin in the 11th century soon overcame Glendalough in importance.

Our next stop on our tour was the Wicklow Gap, one of only two ways through the Wicklow Mountains going east to west, The elevation is 1,567 feet. I took this photo looking east and you can just barely see the waters of the Irish Sea in the distance. Supposedly on a clear day you can see across to the mountains of Wales, but not today.

Here is the path we hiked up from the parking lot and as you can see it is pretty barren up here. The wind was really blowing and you had to lean into it as you walked. What we did see as we drove thru the gap was the remains of lead mines that dotted this area for 150 years. The last mine closed in 1965.

Boy are we lost. We are passing through the town of Hollywood, Ireland, historically known as Killinkeyvin (Irish; Cillín Chaoimhín meaning Kevin's little church). It has a population of about 100 and has been used as the site of several movies.

We've arrived in Kilkenny and this is the River Nore that passes through the city. Kilkenny is the anglicized version of the Irish Cill Chainnigh meaning Church of Canice. Kilkenny was founded as a religious center in the 6th century within the Kingdom of Ossory and in the 11th century became an important merchant town under the Normans.

On the south end of the city is the castle which was built by the Normans starting in 1195 and was finished in 1213. It was built by Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow, who was the leader of the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. This castle was bought by James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde, in 1391 and remained as the Butler family residence until 1935. Talk about planting roots.

Over the next few centuries the castle grew until it consisted of a central square surrounded by walls and towers on each corner. However during Cromwell's invasion of Ireland one side of the castle and one of the towers was destroyed and never replaced.

We didn't have time for a tour of the castle but I did get this one photo of the interior before the guard admonished me not to take any photos in the castle.

Here is a small part of the moat which once surrounded the castle.

The way Kilkenny is laid out is that the castle is at the south end of town, St. Canice's Cathedral, shown in this photo, is located in what is called Irish Town at the north end of the city. In between is the old walled merchant quarter know as High Town. Law was interesting as in the area around the castle the lord of the castle was judge and jury, in Irish Town the bishop of the cathedral was the law and in High Town the merchants ruled.

Here we are leaving the castle and heading into High Town.

A butcher shop in High Town

Here we are walking down one of the side streets through the old walled part of the city

One of the narrow alleys connecting the side streets and main street.

I took this photo because this location is where the Kytleler family had their residence. This family is famous because of Alice Kyteler who was the earliest person accused and condemned of witch craft in Ireland. Alice was born in 1280 and worked her way through four husbands and in the process became very rich. She was accused of witchcraft and brought before Richard de Ledrede, know as Richard the Dread, Bishop of Ossory. She managed to skip town and was never heard from again, but her maid wasn't so lucky. She was tortured, confessed and burned at the stake in 1324.

Here is all that remains of a Franciscan friary which dates to 1225. Part of it ended up becoming the Smithwicks brewery in 1710.

Here we are entering the grounds of St. Canice's Cathedral. The round tower is intact and you can climb to the top. Since that requires climbing up a bunch of narrow ladders, I decided to pass. The present church dates from the 13th century but the round tower is from the 9th century.

Here is the nave of the church. This is the second longest cathedral in Ireland.

This is an original ornament that had been carved by the architect of the cathedral in the 13th century.

Here is a model of the town as it would have looked in medieval times with castle to the south with four walls, the merchant town flowing up the main street and the cathedral at the northe end.

This is the tomb of Richard the Dread. One of the people that the Bishop found guilty of witchcraft was a relative of Alice Kytleler. For his punishment he was required to put a new lead roof on the tower of the cathedral. A couple of years after, the tower collapsed from the weight and severely damaged the cathedral. Luckily, the Bishop had died by then and so there were no repercussions.

Here is an example of one of the stained glass windows.

This tomb dates to the 16th century and is for the 8th Earl of Ormonde, Piers Butler and his wife Margaret. One of the symbols that all of the Butler tombs have is a carving of a dog curled up at his master's feet.

Not sure who is in this tomb but is was a nice looking one.

Another of the stained glass windows.

Our last stop of this day trip was the Abbey of Kilcooly in County Tipperary. This was Cistercian abbey built in the 12th century by Donagh Carbragh O'Brien, King of Thomond. This is a rare gem in that it is seldom visited so we had it to ourselves. It is located on an estate but there is an access gate so you can walk to the site, Here we are walking across a field to get to the abbey.

A closer view of the abbey showing the very ornate east window.

This odd looking building is a dove-cote. The Cistercians did not eat the meat of any four legged animal but they could eat poultry and apparently liked doves.

There is a hole in the roof so the doves could come and go.

Here we are in the nave looking into the sanctuary at that ornate east window.

Here is a view down the nave.

This was probably some form of confessional. There was one on each side.

This is the tomb of John Butler of Clonamicklon who died in 1330. Since this is a Bulter tomb the carving of the dog is right where it is supposed to be.