A site of mythical importance, Tara was the political and spiritual centre of Celtic Ireland and the seat of the High Kings until the 11th century. The spread of Christianity, which eroded the importance of Tara, is marked by a statue of St Patrick. The...
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...
County Kerry, with Killarney and its lakes, contains the most celebrated, and consequently the most visited attractions in Ireland; the reputation of its landscape is amply justified but the town of Killarney is not of comparable interest. Among the mountain ranges are Carrantouhill (1038m), the...
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...
A statue of Daniel O’Connell, ‘The Liberator’, stands at the Southern end of the street named after him, overlooking O’Connell Bridge, the city’s main North-South link. Around the plinth fly bronze angels of victory, their wings pierced with bullet holes from the Easter Rising of...