Spent a marvellous few hours on a gorgeous Saturday morning wandering St. Fechin’s Way and around the ancient and historic village of Fore, Co. Westmeath. ‘Ireland’s Ancient Heartlands’ is a patchwork of many incredible sites, that do not feature high on the public radar but are all fascinating places to visit. I’ll be back for more visits and surprises!
The view across Fore Valley
Fore isn’t a place you would normally drive through, you need to seek it out, but it is worth the effort. It must have been a thriving place in the heyday of the early Christian Church. It was a target for Viking raiders and Fore was burnt to the ground on at least a dozen occasions. Fore became a great centre of learning with 300 Monks and 2,000 students – akin to a modern university town! Ireland truly was the land of the Saints and Scholars. Poor Fechin however died from the Yellow Plague in 664.
The graveyard at St. Fechin’s Church.
The Seven Wonders of Fore ar a curious mix of Pagan and Christian beliefs that must have been written by the earliest Travel writers trying to promote the village of Fore!
The Benedictine Abbey was a much later construct in the 13th century, with the first monks being French. It too was plundered often. It’s a striking ruin that you can wander through. I was especially taken by the Dovecote or Columbaria built close by. The Dovecote was built to house pigeons as a source of food and feathers!
Dovecote or Columbaria
St Fechins Walk continues for 4 kms in a beautiful scenic loop along the edge of a wood and there are lots of new trees planted, all sponsored by local families.
The oldest beech tree in the Valley.
Fore is nestled between two beautiful hills, the Ben of Fore to the north east and Carrick Balor (Of the Evil Eye) in the south west. The walk way has lovely display boards about legends and lore. Some of the stories are from the Dúcahs collection that I often refer to.
Looking for some wisdom in the Wisdom seat!
I love these folk tales which we all learned in our youth, hopefully they will continue to be passed down the generations.
The key to the Anchorite can be had from the Seven Wonders Bar, unfortunately I was too early and it wasn’t open.
The tree that will not burn with coins hammered into the trunk!
We have Saint Brigid to thank for today’s Bank Holiday! This year marks the 1500th anniversary of her death.
It’s lovely to see the revival in interest in old customs and traditions. The unique St Brigid’s Cross, made from rushes, has regained enormous popularity and are instantly recognisable as relating to Brigid.
The well known Wexford folklorist Michael Fortune has some lovely postings about making the crosses on his Facebook page. Here’s one example of a cross made by his enterprising daughters:
Over 3,000 secondary school students, from counties Kildare, Carlow and Laois created a human St Brigid’s Cross formation on the Curragh to mark the 1500th anniversary. Here’s a stunning aerial shot from local photographer Mark McGuire.
I think most families in Ireland have a Brigid somewhere in the family tree and my lovely grandmother was Brigid Kelly of Little Barrack Street and so we all have a soft spot for St Brigid who performed wondrous deeds, often kind natured domestic miracles. On a trip to Italy in 2019 I was inspired by some reading I was doing about the amazing impact of Irish saints in Europe and I took off one day in search of the village of Santa Brigida which is located north east of Florence. A lady called Margaret Stokes wrote a book in the 19th century ‘ Six Months in the Apennines: Or a Pilgrimage in Search of Vestiges of The Irish Saints of Italy’. It’s a labour of love and a detective story of sorts as she researches the reach of the wandering Irish Perigrini. Fascinating to think of monks from Inis Cealtra on Lough Derg, making their way in the 6th and 7th century across Europe. Brigid was among them and one version of her life story is that she lived her remaining years out in the beautiful and rugged hills above Fiesole. She found a cave there high in the mountains which were haunted by wild beasts. It was here she spend her last years fasting and in prayer. She was often visited in her hermitage by local peasants, knights and holy matrons. She was venerated as a saint by the local population who built a church above the cave and the tiny village of Santa Brigida grew up around it. I was delighted to find it and make that connection again with Ireland as was made by Margaret Stokes all those years ago.
Church of Santa BrigidaCave of Santa BrigidaFresco of Santa BrigidaChurch of Santa BrigidaGrotta di Santa BrigidaSanta Brigida near Fiesole, Italy
This is a fabulous 50 kms cycle route featuring interesting and important historical sites and surprising stunning hills scenery, which I really enjoyed completing on a windy February 4th morning. Hard to believe but I’d say once I left Carlow, and excluding Castledermot village I met less than 10 cars on these quiet country roads. I’m at a loss to understand why cyclists use our busy main roads when we have this glorious spiders web of bóithríns connecting up our towns and villages.
Most evenings I take the road out past Oak Park and Ballaghmoon and so the first part of this route is very familiar – or so I thought! I’ve loaded up the Ordnance Survey Maps on my phone and they are brilliant for highlighting heritage sites. Many of these are but ruins, and often long gone but at least I can be on the look out for them. I noticed a church marked near the river Lerr at Newtownallen but I could see no sight of it on the way out. I continued on this well surfaced road passing close to Kilkea Castle and heading towards Belan, Moone.
My first stop was another gem marked on the map, a holy well at Belan. It’s a small oval well covered by a fine corbelled structure with clear water inside which runs under a flag stone and into the River Greese.
St. Patrick’s Well at BelanCrystal clear water in St. Patrick’s Holy Well
St Partick’s Well, Belan
Local folklore, says that St Patrick was chased out of Belan and this is supposedly reenacted every 17th March with a procession from the High Cross Inn! Sounds like a tale that originated in the Inn!
Not far away is the sleepy but historic village of Moone which is home to one of the best preserved High Crosses in the country, the tallest in fact at 5.4 metres. The carvings are so good, so well preserved and they feature many scenes from the Gospels. The monastery here was founded by St Palladius who came to Ireland in 431 AD.
I was at the northernmost point of my route here and headed east in the direction of Kilelan Abbey ruins. One of the great advantages of slow travel is the ability to stop and admire things that catch your eye. This is a unique church ruin with a square tower incorporated into the church building. Founded by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem in the 13th century, it’s a pretty site worth investigating. It’s possible to get to the top of the tower but honestly, when I saw part of the tower held together with rope I didn’t even give it a second thought!
Leaving Kilelan Abbey behind I continued on a lovely quiet rural road along the side of Sheriff Hill and then Frocken Hill, as my father used call it, but I see it named on the Ordnance survey map as Corballis Hill. This is a great road with pretty scenery all round and some nice hills to climb. I should taken a few more photos!
I turned right then for Castledermot and a look at the famous monastery of Diseart Diarmada, founded in 812 AD, now St James Church of Ireland. This is a stunning site that is so easily overlooked which is on our doorstep. There are two very decorative High Crosses, one on the Northside and the other on the Southside, a Round Tower, a hog back stone and a swearing stone! The original monastery was plundered twice by the Vikings in the 9th century.
The Round Tower, which is just over 20 metres tall, was used to store valuables and this one is unusual as the entrance is just above ground level and is located to the north of the church instead of on the usual west side of the church.
Round Tower at Castledermot
There are a couple of other unique features worth investigating. A very rare, possibly the only one now in this country, a hog back stone. This is a Scandanvian type grave marker with carvings on both sides. These are covered in lichen now and hard to make out.
The Swearing Stone is another great feature. The “Leac na Mionn” or ‘Stone of the Oaths’ bears a circular hole in the centre of the carved head. This stone was used for swearing oath, sealing promises and making deals!
There are a host of other smaller crosses and markers worth checking out including another holed stone:
Roma Arch and Round Tower.
I was heading back for Carlow now and the best way by bike is out by the GAA field and over by Newtownallen. This allowed me look to see of there was anything remaining of the church ruins that I mentioned at the start and though I have travelled this road on hundreds of occasions, today was the first day I glimpsed these ruins. They are located on the other side to the River Lerr and I’ll have to find an away across at some stage to have a gander! All in all another lovely cycle with loads of interesting sites to visit.
Long before the Pharaohs founded their incredible tombs in the Valley of the Kings, on the bank of the River Nile, another Valley of the Kings was in existence for thousands of years beforehand along the bank of the River Boyne! I set out today to explore the area on my bike starting at an equally enchanting Passage Tomb roughly 20 kms south east of Newgrange.
FourknocksLozenge markings
‘Fuair Cnoic’ tells you more about the place than the Anglicised version of the name. It translates as ‘Cold Hills’ – it was certainly true today with the temperature just 3.5 degrees; the wind chill made it more like -3.5. The last time I visited Fourknocks was about 25 years ago when the lads were kids and they played an awful trick on me! They locked the entrance door and it was pitch black inside. They were outside on the grassy mound having a great laugh and thought it was a great idea to drop the key in through the tiny vent in the roof of the chamber. I had no way out and the joke backfired on them as they panicked!! It took a bit of searching to locate the key and ensure they had a lift home!
The beauty of Fourknocks is that it is off the beaten track with very few visitors compared to the sites at Newgrange. The Chamber is locked but the key is available from the White Family home about 2kms away. Leave a deposit and you can have a free ramble around an amazing Passage Tomb, one that is actually larger than the Chamber in Newgrange. There are some incredible 5,000 year old carvings above the side chambers which are really well preserved because they are protected from the elements.
I bade farewell to Fourknocks and turned my bike towards Ard Cath and Duleek heading for the Newgrange Visitor Centre. The helpful staff from the OPW directed me to the service entrance which enabled me to access the pedestrian bridge across Ireland’s most fabled stretch of water, the River Boyne, otherwise I would have had a long cycle to get over to the other side. It was here that Finn, son of Cumhal, went to learn poetry from Finegas, a poet that was living at the Boinn, ‘for the poets always thought it was aways on the brink of water poetry was revealed to them’. Finegas was there seven years for it was prophesied that he would eat the Salmon of Knowledge and that he would have all the knowledge after that. Finally he caught it while Finn was there and bade hime to roast it – but not to eat it. When he had cooked it he Brough it to Finegas who asked had he ate any of it. Finn said no but that he had burnt his thumb which blistered and he put his thumb in his mouth. And that was how Finn gained all the knowledge that came from the nuts of the none hazels of wisdom that grow beside the well that is below the sea.. from Gods and Fighting Men. I’ve alway loved the old folklore..
I crossed over the Boyne and headed for Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange knowing that I wouldn’t be able to go inside as I had my bike with me and I wouldn’t leave it unattended. But I wanted to do this cycle in our Valley of Kings for a long time. It’s a beautiful place, best experienced on foot or on the bike and not on the tour buses that ferry visitors to the sites!
Newgrange
The weather took a turn for the worst but the heavy shower failed to dampen the spirits and I enjoyed the atmosphere cycling between the sites and looking down at the Boyne below. It was time to head back and retrace my steps, another good day’s cycle touring completed.
The best way to get to know your county is either on your two feet or on your bicycle! Last cycle of the Christmas break took me on a lovely route across to Rathvilly with lots to see along the way. I keep saying it, but we have an amazing network of local roads criss crossing the country, linking up interesting little places to visit!
Is this the smallest graveyard in Carlow?
I’d never dream of taking the main road to Rathvilly on the bike, so it’s always a little cross country, out through Palatine, into County Kildare and up to Knocknacree Cross. It’s a short steep little climb rewarded with an equally steep downhill towards Graney, site of the infamous 1922 ‘Graney Ambush’ in which the IRA attacked a convoy of the National Army during the Civil War. 3 soldiers were killed and 5 badly wounded. Graney was also the site of a Nunnery founded by the Augustinians around 1200 AD until Henry VIII’s dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, granting the substantial lands to Sir A. St Leger. Is it any wonder we’re not too fond of that nation! I passed on by and headed for Bigstone, located on the Carlow /Kildare border. I’d say the border runs right beneath it!
It is what it says on the tin…. Bigstone
I read a lovely story on the Dúchas website about the Bigstone; its an amazing repository of Irish folklore, have a read of this:
A Hidden Treasure, Dúchas Collection
As I left the Bigstone behind and headed towards Ricketstown, I couldn’t but think of this great yarn, again from The Schools Collection on the Dúchas website, and hoped I wouldn’t be shamed by this ‘Quick Walker’. These stories are form the 1930s but look at the names of the student and her uncle – McGuirk and Molloy, still prominent names in the Rathvilly area.
A Quick Walker by Lena McGuirk, page 1A Quick Walker by Lena McGuirk
The road through Ricketstown passes the impressive Beechy House Stud, owned by racehorse trainer Jim Bolger. It was once owned by Benjamin D’Israeli, uncle of the former British Prime Minister of the same. He gifted a sum of money to enable the construction of a school in Rathvilly, and the beautiful building at Bough is that old school. It’s an iconic school building, which you wouldn’t expect to see in its location. It closed its doors as a school in 1977 and I have memories of playing Badminton in it many years ago when I was working and lodging in Baltinglass!
D’Israeli School, Bough, Rathvilly
It was on up to Rathvilly village then and a stop at the Kevin Barry memorial. Rathvilly has a fairly unique achievement in winning the National Tidy Towns on three occasions. It would be nice to see them back competing at that level again as it is a very picturesque and historic village. And forgetting about the football….
Kevin Barry Statue, Rathvilly – he was only 18 years old….a boy…
In Mountjoy Jail one Monday morning High upon the gallows tree Kevin Barry gave his young life For the cause of liberty Just a lad of 18 summers Yet there's no one can deny As he walked to death that morning He proudly held his head on high Just before he faced the hangman In his dreary prison cell British soldiers tortured Barry Just because he would not tell The names of his brave comrades And other things they wished to know 'Turn informer or we'll kill you!' Kevin Barry answered, 'No!' Another martyr for old Ireland Another murder for the crown Whose brutal laws may kill the Irish But can't keep their spirits down Lads like Barry are no cowards From the foe they will not fly Lads like Barry will free Ireland For her sake they'll live and die
Uo to the Moate cross roads, wheeled right and sailed down past Lisnevagh House, home of the Bunburys. The Bunburys descend from Baron de St. Pierre, a Norman knight who served with William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings in 1066. Part of the Bunbury family left Cheshire in the 1660s and settled in Co Carlow as tenants of the Duke of Ormonde until they purchased Lisnavagh in 1702. They became an important part of the ruling elite in Ireland during the late 17th century and, by 1860, the estate at Lisnevagh had evolved into one of the most advanced farms in the country. They still reside at Lisnevagh, now a boutique wedding venue and of course Turtle Bunbury is a renowned Irish historian. This road took me down to Tobinstown, on the Carlow – Hacketstown Road, not a road I like to cycle on. But it was only for a few hundred metres as I got off it as quickly as possible at Ballybit, onto safer local roads that took me over to Rathmore bridge on the River Slaney. Someone seems to have recently demolished half of one side of the bridge and it’s quite dangerous. Had to be a heavy vehicle or a large tractor to do that damage.
River Slaney at RathmoreRathmore Bridge, formerly!
Time was pushing on and I crossed over the Carlow – Rathvilly road at the Bullring Cross, heading on to one of Carlow’s nicest little churches, Kinneagh Church of Ireland.
Kinneagh Church
Not long after passing Kinneagh I rejoined the route I came out at Knocknacree and home via Palatine. Haven’t enjoyed a cycle as much on a long time!
