Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [445]
You can’t miss the massive 19th-century fortifications on the western bank, where heavy artillery was installed to bombard Napoleon in case he was cheeky enough to try to invade by river. The fort has been reincarnated as the Old Fort Restaurant ( 090-967 4973; www.theoldfortrestaurant.com; mains €19.50-29.50; 5-9.30pm Wed-Sat, 12.30-2.30pm Sun), which serves posh nosh in suitably grand surroundings. On a summer evening, a table outside offers beautiful river views.
Don’t miss the opportunity to visit Killeens Village Tavern, an old-world pub-cum-shop that is renowned for its warm welcome and lively traditional music. The ceiling of the bar is plastered with old business cards left by customers over the years. There’s a music session almost nightly in summer and at weekends during the rest of the year. Traditional pub grub is also available.
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CLONMACNOISE
Gloriously placed overlooking the River Shannon, Clonmacnoise ( 090-967 4195; www.heritageireland.ie; adult/child €6/2; 9am-7pm mid-May–mid-Sep, 10am-6pm mid-Sep–Oct & mid-Mar–mid-May, 10am-5.30pm Nov–mid-Mar, last admission 45min before closing; ) is one of Ireland’s most important ancient monastic cities. The site is enclosed in a walled field and contains numerous early churches, high crosses, round towers and graves in astonishingly good condition. The surrounding marshy area is known as the Shannon Callows, home to many wild plants and one of the last refuges of the seriously endangered corncrake (a pastel-coloured relative of the coot).
History
Roughly translated, Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis) means ‘Meadow of the Sons of Nós’. The marshy land in the area would have been impassable for early traders, who instead chose to travel by water or on eskers (raised ridges formed by glaciers). When St Ciarán founded a monastery here in AD 548, it was the most important crossroads in the country, the intersection of the north–south River Shannon, and the east–west Esker Riada (Highway of the Kings).
The giant ecclesiastical city had a humble beginning and Ciarán died just seven months after building his first church. Over the years, however, Clonmacnoise grew to become an unrivalled bastion of Irish religion, literature and art and attracted a large lay population. Between the 7th and 12th centuries, monks from all over Europe came to study and pray here, helping to earn Ireland the title of the ‘land of saints and scholars’. Even the high kings of Connaught and Tara were brought here for burial.
Most of what you can see today dates from the 10th to 12th centuries. The monks would have lived in small huts scattered in and around the monastery, which would probably have been surrounded by a ditch or rampart of earth.
The site was burned and pillaged on numerous occasions by both the Vikings and the Irish. After the 12th century it fell into decline, and by the 15th century it was home only to an impoverished bishop. In 1552 the English garrison from Athlone reduced the site to a ruin: it was reported at the time that ‘not a bell, large or small, or an image, or an altar, or a book, or a gem, or even glass in a window, was left which was not carried away’.
Among the treasures that survived the continued onslaughts are the crosier of the abbots of Clonmacnoise in the National Museum, in Dublin, and the 12th-century Leabhar na hUidhre (The Book of the Dun Cow), now in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.
Information
There’s an excellent on-site museum and cafe, and there’s a regional tourist office ( 090-967 4134; 10am-5.45pm Apr-Oct) near the entrance. If you want to avoid summer crowds, it’s a good idea to visit early or late; the tiny country lanes nearby can get clogged with coaches. Leave at least a couple of hours for a visit.
Sights
MUSEUM
Three connected conical huts near the entrance, housing the museum, echo the design of early monastic dwellings. The centre’s 20-minute audiovisual show is an excellent introduction to the site.
The exhibition area contains the original high crosses (replicas have been put in their