The narrow, one-way streets of Clare’s busy county town still have a medieval feel to them. Ennis grew up around a friary founded in the 13th century when wandering Franciscans were befriended by the O’Brien King of Thomond. A famous school flourished in the shadow...
Gatehouse of Fleet is an attractive little town stretched along a sloping main street, in the middle of which sits an unusual castellated clock tower. The town lies on the banks of the Water of Fleet, completely off the beaten track, and is surrounded by...
What is left of Dromana House is dramatically sited on a rocky escarpment overlooking the Blackwater estuary. It was built in the 17th and 18th centuries as an addition to a 15th century stronghold of the Fitzgeralds, badly damaged in the Civil War. Much of...
The magnificent, red-sandstone ruins of Arbroath Abbey, founded in 1178 by King William the Lion, dominate the town centre. It is thought that Bernard of Linton, the abbot here is the early 14th century, wrote the famous Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 asserting Scotland’s right...
At the meeting of Glenshesk and Glentaistie lies the 15th century friary, burial place of the MacDonnells. It is reached on foot down a pathway from the main road. The friary was built by the local ruler, Rory MacQuillan, who was defeated by the MacDonnells...
Photogenically sited at the entrance to Loch Duich, near Dornie village, Eilean Donan Castle is one of Scotland’s most evocative castles, and must be represented in millions of photo albums. Its on an offshore islet, magically linked to the mainland by an elegant, stone-arched bridge. There’s...
Solid and settled, Kildare is secure in the affluence it has won by horse-breeding and racing. The town’s Irish name, Cill Dara, means ‘the church 9 (or monastery) of the oak tree’. The monastery in question was founded in AD 490 by St Brigid, and...
The spectacular nave, dominated by Romanesque and early Gothic vaults and columns, contains the elaborate, white marble tombs of the 8th Duke of Argyll and his wife. A door on the left leads to the beautiful Gothic cloister, where medieval grave slabs sit alongside modern...
Ireland abounds with fortified tower houses, and Glenquin Castle is one of the best. Rising 70ft and seven storeys high, it is a remarkable mid-15th-century structure, with a spiral staircase linking three high-vaulted rooms, one above the other. Traces of wicker shuttering can be seen...
Just West of Glasgow is the timeless Paisley Abbey – one of the finest in Southern Scotland. Overlooking the river like a giant sentinel, Paisley Abbey is an awesome sight. Inside, the stonework gives a chilly embrace and you feel as though you’ve passed through...