Cahir Castle is on an island commanding the Suir bridge, the largest of its period in Ireland, was built in the 15th century by successive members of the Butler family, lords of Cahir, on the site of a 13th century Norman fortress, restored in 1840...
The tiny island of Muck, measuring just 2 miles by 1 mile, has exceptionally fertile soil, and the island is carpeted with wild flowers in spring and early summer. It takes its name from the Gaelic muc (pig), and pigs are still raised here. Ferries call...
Southwest of Roscommon to Galway via the demesne of Mount Bellew (landscaped by Hely Dutton; mansion demolished), shortly passing the battlefield of Knockdoe, where in August 1504 Gerald Fitzgerald, the Great Earl of Kildare, defeated his son-in-law Ulick de Burgh. Abbey Knockmoy was founded for...
North of the narrow streets of the old town stands the Court House, a Classical building of 1850-52 with original interior finishes. The ruined friary near the centre by the river, was founded by Donough Cairbrearch O’Brien in 1242, and surprised in 1543. An incongruous...
Newtownards, now a busy manufacturing centre in an old town, despite its name. It dates from 1244, when a Dominican Priory was founded here by Walter de Burgh, the church of which still stands in ruins in Court Square, off Castle Street. Of the existing...
Not as architecturally distinguished as its sister at the opposite end of George Street, St Andrew Square is dominated by the fluted column of the Melville Monument, commemorating Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811), Dundas was the most powerful Scottish politician of his time, often...
The Isle of Rum – the biggest and most spectacular of the Small Isles – was once known as the Forbidden Island. Cleared of its crofters in early 19th century to make way for sheep, from 1888 to 1957 it was the private sporting estate...
Ayrshire synonymous with golf and with Robert Burns – and there’s plenty on offer here to satisfy both pursuits. Troon has six golf courses for starters, and plenty of yachties, and there’s enough Burn’s memorabilia to satisfy his most fanatic admirers. This region’s main drawcard though...
Glencolumbkille (the glen of St. Columba), is said to have been a favourite retreat of the saint and his disciples. On the hillside ascending north to Glen Head – a sheer precipice 227m high, with a Napoleonic signal tower above it – are the House,...
The northern and eastern slopes of the Grampian Mountains are draped with a long broad, green mantle of fertile lowlands, fringed with forests and hemmed around with long, sandy beaches and rugged, bird-haunted cliffs, bejewelled here and there with picturesque little fishing villages. Many visitors pass...