Newgrange, County Meath
Newgrange burial chamber is situated in the picturesque Boyne Valley that straddles County Louth and Meath. Newgrange is renowned for the magic of the winter solstice as during this time the sun lights up the central burial chamber. Newgrange is one of the most famous Megalithic sites in the worldThe chamber has been restored and you can now go into it, tours are arranged from the Bru na Bionne Visitor Centre. Newgrange is more than 5000 years old and so is older than the Pyramids of Egypt. At the entrance there is a beautifully carved stone with various Celtic spirals and designs. The mound is about 80 metres in diameter and the stones used to build it are from the Cooley Mountains in County Louth and Wicklow mountains in County Wicklow.
Book of Kells, Dublin City
The world famous Book of Kells is located in Trinity College Dublin and dates back to the 9th century. It is a stunningly exquisite and lavishly decorated copy of the first four gospels in Latin. Even after such a long time, the grandeur and aura of this historical book has not diminished and is considered as one of the major tourist attractions. The book is on a permanent display in the Trinity College Library and evokes much passion among all those who witness this historical spectacle. It is the top tourist attraction in Dublin – a must see!
Hill of Tara, County Meath
THe Hill of Tara, ("Hill of the Kings"), located near the River Boyne, in County Meath, is an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshauglin. It contains a number of ancient monuments, and, according to tradition, was the seat of Árd Rí na hÉireann, or the High Kings of Ireland. The importance of it cannot be understated in the context of pre-historic Ireland. The Hill of Tara today has the ruins of the royal enclosures, and circular mound formations. There is a statue of Saint Patrick on the Hill of Tara plus an unusual shaped stone called the Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny. Legend has it that when the true high King of Ireland touched the stone it cried out.
Trinity College, Dublin City
Trinity is located in the centre of Dublin, on College Green opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament, now the Bank of Ireland Building. The campus occupies 190,000 m 2 (47 acres), much of it green area in the very heart of the city, with many buildings, both old and new, ranged around large courts (known as "squares") and two playing fields. The Library of Trinity College is a copyright library for Ireland and the United Kingdom, containing over 4.5 million books and significant quantities of maps, manuscripts and music.
St. Patricks Cathedral, Dublin City
Situated in the heart of old Dublin, St. Patricks Cathedral is Ireland's largest church and was founded beside a sacred well where St. Patrick is said to have baptised converts around 450A.D. A stone slab bearing a Celtic cross and covering the well was un-earthed at the turn of the 20th century. It is now preserved in the west end of the cathedral's nave. The original building was just a wooden chapel and remained so until 1192 when Archbishop John Comyn rebuilt the cathedral in stone. Much of the present building dates back to work completed between 1254 and 1270. The cathedral is actually a Protestant church contrary to popular belief.
Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin City
The cathedral was begun in 1038 by King Sitric Silkenbeard, the Danish Viking King of Dublin, for the first Bishop of Dublin, Donat or Donagh (the Diocese of Dublin was at that time a small island surrounded by a huge Diocese of Glendalough, and answered to Canterbury). The church was built on the high ground overlooking the Viking settlement of Wood Quay and Sitric allegedly gave the lands of Baldoyle, Raheny and Portrane for its maintenance.
Custom House, Dublin City
The Custom House is a neoclassical 18th century building in Dublin, which houses the Department of the Environment. It is located on the north bank of the River Liffey, on Custom House Quay between Butt Bridge and Talbot Memorial Bridge. It was designed by James Gandon to act as the new custom house for Dublin Port and was his first large scale commission. When it was completed and opened for business on the 7th November 1791, it cost £200,000 to build a huge sum at the time. The four facades of the building are decorated with coats-of -arms and ornamental sculptures representing Ireland's rivers.
Dublin Castle, Dublin City
Dublin Castle, off Dame Street, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex housing the headquarters of Irish Revenue Commissioners. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland. The State Apartments dominate the south range of the Great Courtyard. They were built as the residential and public quarters of the Viceregal Court. They were the seat of the executive and focus of fashionable and extravagant social life. An account of Viceregal Court life is given in Chapter 15 of the Dublin Castle History. Today, the Apartments are the venue for Ireland's Presidencies of the European Union, Presidential inaugurations and prestigious functions.
Monasterboice High Cross and Round Tower, County Louth
The historic ruins of Monasterboice (Mainistir Bhuithe) are of an early Christian settlement four miles north of Drogheda in County Louth.
It was founded in the late 5th century by Saint Buite, who died around AD 521 and was an important centre of religion and learning until founding of nearby Mellifont Abbey in 1142.
The site houses two churches built in the 14th century or later and an earlier round tower, but it is most famous for its 10th century high crosses. The round tower is about 35-metres tall, and is in very good condition, although it is not possible to go inside.
It is believed that it was built as a refuge for the monks against the Vikings, although this theory has been widely disputed.
The passage of time has laid down layers of earth so now the doorway is almost at ground level. The monastery was burned in 1079.
The 5.5-metre Muiredeach’s High Cross is regarded as the finest high cross in the whole of Ireland.
Clonmacnois, County Offaly
Clonmacnoise is the most important Monastic settlement in all of Ireland.
It is situated in County Offaly on the River Shannon south of Athlone.
It was visited by the Pope in 1979. The site can be visited for a fee, via an Interpretative Centre.
The modern village of Clonmacnoise is beside the monastery on the R444, 7 km north of Shannonbridge, County Offaly.
Clonmacnoise was founded in 545 by Saint Ciaran in the territory of Ui Maine at the point where the major east-west land route went through the bogs of central Ireland.
Saint Ciarn had been educated by St. Finnian of Clonard and also by Abbot St. Enda of Aran.
Shortly after his arrival with eight companions, Ciarn met Diarmait Mac Cerbaill who helped him build the first church a small wooden structure and the first of many small churches to be clustered on the site.
Diarmuid was to claim the title of the first Christian High King of Ireland.
Durrow Abbey, County Offaly
Durrow Abbey and High Cross is a historic site located off the some 8 kilometres from the town of Tullamore in County Offaly. It is one of the most important monastic sites in all of Ireland.
To this day, the site remains a largely undisturbed early historic and medieval monastic site containing a complex of archaeological monuments, ecclesiastical and secular, visible and sub-surface.
It also includes a motte built by Hugh de Lacy in the 1180s and it was here that he was killed in 1186 by an Irishman.
It was at the monastery in Durrow that the ancient Book of Durrow was compiled. Discovered in the hands of a local farmer, the book is believed to be the earliest surviving fully decorated insular Gospel manuscript. It is believed to date from the 7th century, though this is controversial. It is on a par with the Book of Kells for its gloriously detailed colourful a script.
Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary
The Rock of Cashel is one of Ireland’s most dramatic sites.
Here you will find a spectacular group of medival buildings set on a limestone out crop in the Golden Vale, which includes a round tower, high crosses, churches, a ruined abbey and the 12th century Romanesque chapel of St Cormac.
One of the most famous Irish landmarks, the Rock of Cashel, also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock, is a historic site in Cashel town, County Tipperary. Cashel has a very ancient history, albeit only documented since the 4th Century.
The Rock of Cashel, with its well-preserved ecclesiastical remains, is one of Ireland's most spectacular heritage sites, rising above the surrounding plain and dominating the land route southward.
The Rock of Cashel served as the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman Invasion, though few remnants if any of the early structures survive.
Navan Fort, County Armagh
Two miles west of the city of Armagh is the great mound of Navan Fort, stronghold of the Kings of Ulster from 700 BC. It occupies a key place in Heroic Age legend, notably in tales about Cuchulain. Whenever King Conor had a problem with Queen Maeve, the rather fierce ruler of Connaught, Cuchulain came to the rescue. The story is told in the visitor centre. In addition to detailing the mythology of the Ulster Cycle and the techniques used by archaeologists to uncover the fort, Navan Centre explores Celtic culture, rituals and beliefs of pre-Christian Ireland.
St. Patricks Cathedral, Armagh City
The imposing Catholic St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh City was built to replace the medieval Cathedral, St Patricks Cathedral, which has been then retained by the Church of Ireland since the Protestant Reformation. The Cathedral sits atop a hill and dominates the landscape of the city like no other in Ireland. The interior is a fascinating example of contrasting and stunningly decorative architecture. This is a most curious example of a very important building which changes both architect and architectural style half way up the walls. The bottom half was designed in 1838, in the English Perpendicular Gothic style, by Thomas Duff of Newry; the top half designed in 1853, in the French Decorated Gothic style, by J. J. McCarthy of Dublin.
Ceide Fields, County Mayo
Located near the coast in North Mayo, 10 kilomentres from Killala, the Ceide Fields is the most extensive Stone Age monument in the world, consisting of field systems, dwelling areas and megalithic tombs from 5000 years ago.
The Ceide Fields visitors centre is an impressive heritage centre and is primarily concerned with the archaeology of this area and profits from it are use to provide continuing research, involving the location and mapping of these hidden walls by a specially developed simple and completely non-destructive method of probing with iron rods, and excavation of habitation sites and tombs is yielding a unique picture of the way of life of our ancestors 200 generations ago.
Croagh Patrick, County Mayo
Croagh Patrick is where St Patrick is said to have banished the snakes from Ireland.
The panoramic views from the top on a clear day are stunning as you look down on Clew Bay which is reputed to have 365 islands.
Croagh Patrick) is a 764metres (2,510ft) mountain and an important site of pilgrimage.
It is located 8kilometres from Westport, in County Mayo above the villages of Murrisk and Lecanvey. On "Reek Sunday", the last Sunday in July every year, over 15,000 pilgrims climb the mountain.
The mountain forms the southern part of a valley created by a glacier flowing into Clew Bay in the last Ice Age.
Newgrange, County Meath
Book of Kells
Hill of Tara
Trinity College
St. Patricks Cathedral
Christchurch Cathedral
Custom House, Dublin City
Dublin Castle, Dublin City
Monasterboice High Cross
Clonmacnois
Rock of Cashel
Ceide Fields
