Clonfert Cathedral , Galway

Clonfert Cathedral , Galway

Clonfert Church of Ireland Cathedral in East Galway is the burial place of the great Kerry sailor , Saint Brendan , who died in 577.

Parts of the West gable , with projecting antea at the corners , are among the lodest surviving parts of the structure.

This structure probably replaced an earlier wooden church around the eleventh century.

Around 1200 the doorway was added.

It is Irelands most intricately ornamented Romanesque doorway , decorated with interlaced bosses , human and animal heads , as well as geometrical and floral ornaments , culminating above in a pointed gable. Carved from friable sandstone , its details are weathering badly.

The cathedral became Protestant at the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

The cathedral is on the World Monument List.

Worth seeing on a tour of Ireland. Our seven day tour with Ireland Luxury Tours stays at the Ballynahinch Castle outside Galway and provides a perfect opportunity to see the cathedral.