Ireland: Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore Abbey in County Galway was built in the late 1800s by Mitchell Henry MP, a wealthy businessman, as a gift to his wife Margaret. Today Kylemore Abbey is owned and run by the Benedictine community who have been in residence here since 1920.

In its day, the castle covered 40,000 square feet and had over 70 rooms. There were 33 bedrooms, four bathrooms, four sitting rooms, a ballroom, billiard room, library, study, school room, smoking room, gun room and various offices and domestic staff residences for the butler, cook, housekeeper and other servants.

The castle was sold to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester in 1903, who resided there for several years before being forced to sell the house and grounds because of gambling debts. In 1920, the Irish Benedictine Nuns purchased the Abbey castle and lands after they were forced to flee Belgium during World War I. Since 2015, the Abbey has partnered with the University of Notre Dame, hosting academic programs for Notre Dame students from the U.S.

The Estate includes large walled Victorian Gardens. Since the 1970s these have been open for public tours and nature walks. The Benedictine community has restored the Abbey’s gardens and church with donations and local artisans in order to be a self-sustaining estate. The gardens include a Kitchen Garden and a flower garden.

Approaching Kylemore Abbey on the lake

Kylemore Abbey, a 19th-century castle now home to a community of Benedictine nuns. In its day, the castle covered 40,000 square feet and had over 70 rooms. There were 33 bedrooms, four bathrooms, four sitting rooms, a ballroom, billiard room, library, study, school room, smoking room, gun room and various offices and domestic staff residences for the butler, cook, housekeeper and other servants.

The Estate includes large walled Victorian Gardens

Drawing Room

So THIS is t he dining room!

Since the 1970s property has been open for public tours and nature walks

Ireland: Clonmacnoise!

En route to Galway from Dublin today, we stopped at one of the most famous monastic sites in Ireland, Clonmacnoise, located along the River Shannon, near the village of Shannonbridge, County Offaly. Founded by Saint Ciaran in the mid-6th century, it became a great center of religion and learning, visited by scholars from all over the world. The ruins include a cathedral, two round towers, three high crosses, nine churches and over 700 Early Christian graveslabs. The Visitor Center displays a number of cross slabs and the 9th-century Cross of the Scriptures. The Clonmacnoise graveyard surrounding the site continues to be in use. There in the graveyard, we met two friendly dogs who live across the road but come to the site every day and mingle with the visitors.

The Clonmacnoise ruin is set along the River Shannon

The ruins include a cathedral, two round towers, three high crosses, nine churches and over 700 Early Christian graveslabs

This ornate Gothic doorway dating to the fifteenth century is apparently a popular spot for wedding proposals. Folklore has it that the doorway once had a very unusual use: Lepers would stand at one side of the doorway and whisper their sins into the half pipe in the architrave. The priest would stand at the other side of the arch, far enough away to avoid infection, listening to the confession emerging from the architrave.

Detail above the Whispering Arch

Found throughout Ireland and Scotland, Celtic crosses predate Christianity and were first used by pagans in the worship of the sun. In pagan times, the Celtic cross was known as a Sun Cross or Sun Wheel and was a symbol of Odin, the Norse god. The circle in the cross is now widely known to represent the sun.

One of ancient Celtic Crosses on display in the Visitor’s Center

This place has gone to the dogs

Making friends