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Just a Skeleton
The skeleton of the former Roman Catholic chapel in Hugginstown, County Kilkenny. This building was constructed c.1800, in other words almost three decades before Catholic Emancipation, and had an...
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A Quiet Spot
‘A fifth tower stood at Aghaviller, (probably Agha-oillir, field of the pilgrim) the lower part only remains; above the foundation it measured fifty feet round; beneath this, it has a circular base,...
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Tales of the Unexpected
Designed by J.J. McCarthy in 1867, the Church of the Nativity in Kilcormac, County Offaly appears to differ little from a multitude of other such buildings constructed during the same period...
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Seasonal Thoughts
‘What means soever may be used for the procuring of Unity, or Settlement, in a Country, Men must at the same time be careful not to deface and dissolve the Bonds of Christian Charity; nay of humane...
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Let us Leave Something to Testify that we have Lived
Originally from Cumberland, Sir John Ponsonby came to Ireland in the early 1650s and was appointed a commissioner for taking the depositions of Protestants concerning murders said to have been...
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In Memory
After Monday’s post about the Ponsonby tombs at Fiddown, County Kilkenny, here is a less well-preserved old church: the shell of an early 18th century building at Anatrim, County Laois. A simple...
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Saint or Goddess?
Later this week, February 1st will mark St Brigid’s Day. For those readers unfamiliar with her, Brigid is one of Ireland’s three national saints (the other two being Patrick and Columba), but not much...
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Piercing the Sky
Piercing the sky, a slender tower in the graveyard of Brooklodge, County Cork. A square base with octagonal belfrey above, this is all that remains of a church erected here in the mid-19th century, on...
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Empty Aisle, Deserted Chancel
Lone and weary as I wander’d by the bleak shore of the sea, Meditating and reflecting on the world’s hard destiny, Forth the moon and stars ‘gan glimmer, in the quiet tide beneath, For on slumbering...
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Of a Very Superior Character
‘The monastery of Rahan…was founded by St Carthach or St Mochuda about the year 580. A king of Cornwall, named Constantine, abandoned his throne in 588, and became a monk there, whence it would seem...
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