14 Sep Beltany Stone Circle
Raphoe, Co. Donegal To add to the distinctiveness of this stone circle, a horrific-looking Iron Age stone head was found near the monument, perhaps indicating that...
Author: Howard
13 Sep Dooncarton Stone Circle
Dooncarton, Co. Mayo There are seven stones remaining here on a ridgeline with a dramatic view over Broadhaven Bay. Caesar Otway described in 1850 how his...
12 Sep The Children of the Mermaid
Enniscrone, Co. Sligo The stones on this seaside bluff in Co. Sligo were not, in legend, people accused of any transgression. Rather, it was just a...
08 Sep Kildare Round Tower
and St. Brigid’s Fire Temple
Kildare, Co. Kildare In a churchyard that has seen its great cathedral rise from ruin many times in its 1500 year history sit two stone structures...
08 Sep Árd Ladhran
Ardamine, Co. Wexford The mound of Árd Ladhran was, in legend, the tomb of Ladhra, who was interred just 40 days before Noah’s Ark set...
28 Aug Cairn Thierna
Fermoy, Co. Cork A tumbled pile of stone now seems a secondary feature to the large illuminated Christian cross on the summit of Corrin Hill. But...
25 Aug Clochafarmore
Knockbridge, Co. Louth The tragic end of Cúchulainn, half-supernatural hero of the armies of Ulster, occurred at this tall standing stone. Mortally wounded, he bound himself...
24 Aug Parknabinnia Wedge Tomb
Killinaboy, Co. Clare Paul Keane explains what happened to someone who attempted to remove stones from the tomb. “He went home, and he went into bed,...
24 Aug Caherconree Promontory Fort
Camp, Co Kerry Cú Roí mac Dáire was a legendary sorcerer, an evil magician who resided in the south of Ireland in the brutal tribal era...
23 Aug Keshcorran, and the Caves of Kesh
Keash, Co Sligo It is a steep climb up a hillside, but the view from inside Cormac’s Cave makes it obvious how this location might have...
21 Aug Kealkil Stone Circles
Kealkil, Co. Cork The circle's tallest upright appears similar in proportion to the enigmatic black monolith from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001 A Space Odyssey. That...
20 Aug The Seven Wonders of Fore
Fore, Co. Westmeath St. Féichín’s presence continues to influence the community of Fore, where both pilgrims and locals are able to blend native folk beliefs into...
18 Aug St. Patrick’s Chair and Well
Cullamore, Co. Tyrone Altadaven Glen, the light-dappled dreamscape location of St. Patrick’s Chair and Well, seems like a small patch of fern-filled rain forest magically dropped...
07 Aug Inishmurray Monastic Site
Inishmurray, Co. Sligo Today a visitor on a day trip from Mullaghmore might be tempted to idealize life on this small island. But the story of...
05 Aug Slieve Gullion
Meigh, Co. Armagh This spot might have been conjured by a Hollywood set designer. Who else might have put a magical lake on the summit of...
05 Aug Loughcrew Passage Tomb Complex (Sliabh na Caillíghe)
Oldcastle, Co. Meath On his visit to the Loughcrew hills, also called Sliabh na Caillíghe (The Hill of the Witch) Jonathan Swift heard tales of...
03 Aug Stonehenge
Salisbury Plain, England No, Stonehenge is not in Ireland. But according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Merlin the magician moved Stonehenge from Ireland to England as a...
03 Aug Rostellan Dolmen
Rostellan, Co. Cork Nearly submerged by the tide, the Rostellan Dolmen is the only example of such a "Diarmuid and Gráinne's Bed" to wear a garland...
31 Jul The Hill of Tara
Tara has for generations served as the geographic focus for an aspirational sense of national glory, “the most consecrated spot in Ireland,” where blood was...
29 Jul Cloghanmore Court Tomb
Malin More, Co. Donegal After Cloghanmore was dug out of the bog in the nineteenth century, it was "a ruinous pile," with its roofing-stones tossed aside...
29 Jul The Gleann Cholm Cille Turas
Gleann Cholm Cille, Co. Donegal The Turas is a religious procession that visits 15 different stations in the hills and valleys of this stunningly beautiful spot...
25 Jul Teltown (Tailteann)
Kells, Co. Meath The Teltown Fair was said to include Olympic-like competitions of strength and agility, even horse races and staged battles. There was also a...
04 May The Calf House, or Druid’s Altar
Burren Forest Park, Co. Cavan Known as "The Druid’s Altar," for the legendary bloody sacrifices it was reputed to have witnessed, and as the "The Calf...
04 May Ballynahatty Giant’s Ring
Ballynahatty, Co. Down Unique in the country for its central stone tomb, this monument is the largest enclosed ceremonial space in Ireland. The top of the...
03 May Baslicon Dolmen
Waterville, Co. Kerry This low monument south of Waterville is said to be the grave of Fial, a woman of the invading tribe who died from...
03 May Ballyvourney Monastic Site
Ballyvourney, Co. Cork St. Gobnait's monastic site contains two holy wells and the reputed grave of this sixth-century holy woman within a ruined prehistoric tomb. It...
03 May Ardnamagh Fairy Fort
Moynalty, Co. Meath Ireland has remnants of more than 45,000 ringforts. There were once many more, now leveled and lost. That so many have survived is...
03 May Ballymacdermot Court Tomb
Killeavy, Co. Armagh The earliest oral traditions speak of the Dé Danann. Later poets re-worked these legends into ballads celebrating the conflicts with the Viking. Thus...
03 May Tara Fort
Portaferry, Co. Down Tara Fort sits on a prominent hilltop southeast of Portaferry, on Northern Ireland’s Ards Peninsula. Thomas McKeating claimed that "these fairies were supposed...
03 May Ballina Dolmen
(Dolmen of the Four Maols)
Ballina, Co. Mayo It is tantalizing for the modern visitor to imagine that within the folklore surrounding a particular prehistoric monument somehow, through the millennia, there...
03 May Athgreany Piper’s Stones
Hollywood, Co. Wicklow The green Wicklow Hills setting provides a serene background for this sad tale of merriment gone wrong, the piper and his dancers suddenly...
03 May Altar Wedge Tomb
and Mass Rock
Goleen, Co. Cork From its construction in the late Stone Age the Altar Wedge Tomb, with its dramatic waterfront location on Toormore Bay, was the site...