A pheasant trip

This past winter I picked up two volumes on the archaeological monuments of Sligo. The one volume is difficult to lift and the inventory only covers the southern half of the county. We haven't made it a mandatory weekend trip, but we have quite a few sites to visit. Today we went to the Ballindoon Friary, not ten minutes from the house.

Overlooking Lough Arrow, this Dominican friary was founded in 1507 and stands today as a complete 16th century ruin with no later appendages. There is a headstone in the nave dating from 1717.

Gabe and I disturbed a pheasant's nest behind the building. I still struggle with the focus on this new lens, and even though the photographer in me knows this isn't a perfect picture. I still loved the colour.

We are not alone

Gabe captures the picture of the year documenting three flying saucers hovering above the property checking out Lisa's studio build. It makes perfect sense that they are flying in a triangular, triple spiral pattern, which finally explains the markings found on the entrance stones to Newgrange.

Coincidence? I think not.

Foiled

Having not seen the Labby Rock for ourselves, we headed over to the historic trail behind Cromleach Lodge, expecting to find the ancient monument still dressed in foil. Much to our pleasant surprise, the foil had been removed and I began to question whether the whole scandal was some clever ruse. Upon closer inspection however, we did find a few remaining scraps.

Though the picture might not represent the true scale of the monument, it is indeed a site to behold, with a capstone of some 65 tons. It's not everyday you get to commune with a man-made object created some 5,000 years ago.

It's not me

Just in case you're wondering, I'm not the crazy American who wrapped the Labby Rock in tin foil. I was putting up tin foil to scare away the deer that are getting into the garden, though I'm switching to metal pie plates on the advice of my father.

The Labby Rock is a short drive from the house.

Can you believe this guy?

Newgrange

It's been almost fourteen years since we visited Newgrange. Predating the pyramids and Stonehenge, Newgrange is one of the most important built structures on the planet. When we were there in 1993, you just parked along the road and walked up to the site. There may have been guides, but Lisa knew the one guide and we were able to go into the mound ourselves.

Much to our horror, there is a car park reminiscent of Disneyland, you need to buy timed tickets and are bused in small groups to the site. At least they had the foresight to place the visitors centre far away from the actual site so it didn't interfere with the immediate surroundings.

We had an excellent guide who recounted various theories about the purpose of the passage grave, yet was wise enough to caution everyone to keep their minds open during the visit. He also mused on whether there was any modern built structure today that was destined to survive 5,300 years. I think not.

Viking necklace

The picture isn't too hot from my mobile phone, but over lunch today, the Archaeology department shared a rare recent find. It was a glass Viking necklace, probably 1000 years old, that was discovered in the back of a cave in the Burren. The original glass would have been a pale, transparent blue, though it reacted with the chemical composition of the soil to turn more iridescent. It can be pretty cool working at a research university!

Walk it off

After two birthday cakes and pumpkin pie, we took a trip today to Carrowmore, as well as walking to the summit of Knocknarea.

Carrowmore is the largest cemetary of megalithic stones in Ireland. It was interesting to see the current worn paths of visitors connecting the sites together across the fields. The dolmen in one of the cairns is easily larger than the more famous Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren.

Knocknarea dominates the background of Carrowmore, and at the summit is Queen Mebh's tomb. We walked to the 1,000 ft. peak and were offered a stunning 360 degree view of the surrounding land, lake and ocean. The wind was strong enough to blow Gabe off the top of the cairn. It was something we wanted to do since we arrived, as you cannot miss Knocknarea as it, along with Benbulben, are the two most persistent landmarks around Sligo.

Perhaps I'll post some more pictures once I get back to work and can avail of the broadband connection.

Winter Solstice

I first visited Ireland in 1993 and one of the most moving experiences was visiting the Boyne Valley, and in particular, Newgrange. This morning on the Solstice, a shaft of light would have crawled it's way up the main passage to illuminate a burial chamber at the back of the mound. This will continue to happen for thousands of years.

Lisa was lucky enough to have been in the passage tomb before it became such a popular tourist spot, and the Solstice an event mainly for dignitaries and those willing to be put on a waiting list.

Update: The 2006 Winter Solstice Draw took place on the 29th of September, there were 27,485 applications. Application forms are now available at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre for the 2007 Winter Solstice Draw.

Interestingly, Sligo, as I may have mentioned before, has the largest concentration of megalithic monuments in the whole of Ireland. That is quite an accomplishment, considering the wealth of megalithic history per square inch.

The site we created as an on-line exhibition is still up, and pretty good for the web of 1996. (It's actually one of the few sites still optimised for my dial-up viewing experience!)

I was listening to an interesting radio program discussing the transition to Christian religions and how celebrations were purposefully aligned with existing pagan celebrations. Happy Solstice.

Famine grave

This past Sunday we drove up to a famine grave behind Ballyfarnon at Stanton's Brae. The grave was set back in the Greaghnagergh Wood. The wood was beside the old Arigna mines and the entrance was marked by a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Survivors too weak to bury all the dead separately, created a mass grave. At the grave, visitors had left small offerings of coins and hand-made St. Brigid's crosses. I've posted a few more pics under More Photos.

Carrowkeel

We visited the megalithic site of Carrowkeel today, a mere fifteen minutes from the house. As usual, there are no signs once you have reached the pedestrian entrance and the clearest path took us down into a pasture. We met a lot of sheep.

Once we realized we weren't in the right place we scaled the hill again to find some other confused visitors. It took a woman from Denmark to point us up the hill to the mounds. Gabe went in all the passage tombs. The view was spectacular though we had wished we had driven all the way into the second entrance. We hitched a ride back to our car having done enough hiking for one day.

Ringfort

There are 45,000 identified ringfort sites on the island of Ireland. Today Lisa and Gabe walked down the road to the ringfort near our property. Our home county of Sligo boasts the most concentrated collection of field monuments in the country. I have a feeling we won't be able to visit all of them.

The site consisted of many hazelnut trees which are often found growing by/in ringforts. In Celtic legend, the hazel tree drops its nuts into the well below, where they are consumed by the salmon. While cooking one of these salmon, Fionn accidently tastes it, and instantly gains all knowledge. As such, the hazelnut has come to symbolize wisdom in a nutshell.

Inishmurray

Breathtaking is the only way to describe our one hour boat journey to the uninhabited island of Inishmurray today. The landscape, ruins and wildlife was gorgeous and evocative. The company, without exception, was wonderful.

It's not every day you experience ... "Of the many beautiful monastic early Christian sites found thoughout and offshore Ireland, Inishmurray, now a glorious bird sanctuary, is one of the most complete and atmospheric, with a long history of, albeit intermittent settlement, stretching from the 6th to 20th centuries." Read the entire description.

That's not a typo, 6th century. Even a stiff rainstorm on the way back to shore couldn't dampen our spirits.

Here is a selection from the 99 pictures I took on the trip.