The castle was probably built in 1176 by Maurice Fitzgerald, a companion of Strongbow. It remained a Fitzgerald stronghold until 1535, when the rebel Lord Thomas Fitzgerald (known as ‘Silken Thomas’ from the silk fringes worn on the helmets of his retainers) was betrayed to...
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...
An ancient coach road, leading due west from the cathedral hill, crosses the Callan by a charming old bridge, beyond which is St Patrick’s Well (a gnarled thorn bush is decked with votive offerings left by present-day pilgrims). Navan Fort (Emain, Macha) rises further on...
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...
Tipperary, made famous by the World War I marching song, and taking its name from the nearby source of the River Ara, is a manufacturing and dairying centre. There are hardly any remains of antiquity except a gateway of a 13th century Augustinian Priory. A...
Some of the regions finest attractions lie in the gentle hills and lush valleys of Dumfries and Galloway. Ideal for families, there is plenty on offer for the kids. Galloway Forest is a highlight with its sublime, mountain biking and walking trails, red deer, kites...
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...
Roscommon is an old wool-town, deriving its name (Coman’s wood) from a monastery founded here by St. Coman in 746. The most conspicuous building is the huge Roscommon Castle, immediately north of the town, to the left of the road. It was erected by Sir Robert...
The earliest known human settlement of Ireland occurred in the Mesolithic 8000BC, when tribes from Europe crossed to Ireland by boat from Scotland, or possibly across a land-bridge from Britain or the Isle of Man, to the east coast of Ireland. Hunter-gatherer habitation sites and...