08 Aug Clonmacnoisem, County Offaly
This is practically an open-air museum in Ireland.
The site has nine churches, two round towers, and three high crosses, along with numerous grave crosses.
It is a splendid overview of Irish art.
Therefore, it is a very worthwhile stop on any tours of Ireland.
The monastery was founded by Saint Ciaran in 548.
The surviving monuments were created by monastic artists around the end of the tenth century.
At that time the cloister school housed some 6,000 students.
The Book of the Dun Cow, from the twelfth century reveals an interesting history.
It records almost thirty attacks by Gaels, thirteen plundering’s by the Vikings, and six plundering’s by the Anglo-Normans.
The final collapse of the site and its inhabitants came in the sixteenth century when the English dissolved the cloisters.
Contact Ireland and Scotland Luxury Tours for private, chauffeur driven tours of Ireland.