archaeological ireland

An early, possibly one of the oldest extant examples of Irish figure sculpture, standing forlornly in the gloom of an old burial ground near the south-west shore of Boa Island in Lower Lough Erne. It depicts two dwarfish figures gazing in opposite directions and probably represents a Celtic deity. But while the influence of the pagan Iron Age seems unmistakable, it is doubtful if the carving can be as early as the first century AD date sometimes claimed for it. Nonetheless, the stone evident...

The three most spectacular buildings in Dublin - the Custom House, the Four Courts and the King's Inns - are all the work of James Gandon, an English architect who was persuaded by Lord Beresford to come to Dublin to design his new Custom House in 1781. Gandon turned down an offer to design public buildings in St Petersburg in Russia, and made his home in Ireland. The Custom House project was fiercely opposed by rival interests whose business depended on retaining the old site further inla...

The site consists of a huge mound of rough stones about 30.4m in diameter and about 7.6m high. Modern archaeologists reckon that it may well cover a prehistoric burial chamber. However according to legend, it was built to commemorate the first days of fighting of the legendary battle of Moytura between the Tuatha de Danann and the Fir Bolgs which began in the year 3303 B.C....

The Ulster Cultural Institute offers a choice to the visitor which ranges from an archaeological exhibition, traditional music archive, tapestry weaving exhibition, art gallery and library.

Cultural courses on offer include Irish language classes at all levels, hill walking, set dancing, archaeology, tapestry weaving and painting....

Distributed over many acres and extending into adjoining townlands, Carrowmore represents the largest grouping of megalithic monuments in Ireland, and immense Neolithic burial ground where once there may have been more than a hundred tombs. Casual exploration in the last century and present day gravel quarrying in the vicinity have devalued the archaeological potential of the site; but it is still a rewarding place to visit, steeped in atmosphere and evoking a sense of the past.
The s...

One of the few monuments of industrial archaeology in state care in the Republic is the complex of mills at Newmills, three miles west of Letterkenny.

It was operated for centuries by the Gallagher family until it ceased functioning in 1982. Water was siphoned off from the River Swilly for the quarter-of-a-mile long mill-race which fed two separate mills in turn. The upper mill, with much of its machinery still in place, was for flax, used in the making of linen, while the lower mil...

In the Church of Ireland cathedral in this town, there are carved fragments of a 12th century church lintel. In the hall of the church is a large stone bearing a representation of the Arrest of Christ. In the centre is Christ being arrested by two men; St. Peter stands near, sword in hand, to cut off the ear of Malchus, and on the right is a fragmentary Crucifixion. A similar stone (the right-hand fragment of the lintel), with the soldiers casting lots and Christ's tomb, is embedded in the...

TOUR A Leaving from Kiltimagh will travel to North Mayo area passing through Cill Aodain (home of Raftery the Poet) and stopping at - Fort in Carrowkeel - Monastic site in Bohola - Ballylahan Castle - Foxford Town - Mount Falcon Castle - House - Ballina Town - Moyne Town - Killala Round Tower and Town - Brestagh Ogham Stone - Kilcummin Beach (Landing Place of French forces in 1798) - Downpatrick Head - Promontory Fort and Swallow Holes - Return to Kiltimagh

TOUR B L...

One of the most spectacular megalithic tombs of the distinctive south Leinster group, a stately Neolithic mausoleum, 'remarkable', to quote Borlase, 'for its solidity, and the perfect carrying out of a unity of design'. As a scheduled National Monument it is entitled to better care than it currently receives. 'It stands neglected in a corner of the disused burial ground of Kilburrin, 4 miles south-south-west of Waterford city, its great lichen encrusted stones emerging from a tangle of overgrow...

This bridge is located on the Kells-Moynalty Road and spans the River Blackwater. The sturcture dates from pre-Norman times (1169 AD), a fact confirmed by the design of two of the arches. The name of the bridge derives from the family name Mape or de Malpas, who owned the land around here before the English Civil War (1642-49)....