A Little More

Here are some Filler pictures from sites already mentioned. 

At some point I hope to go back to reply to comments. I cannot on the iPad, which I had to use on the trip. (Thus, please excuse the not-so-polished posts.)  Thank you all who made comments.

These below are from the very early Irush history open air museum.

House style of first settlers. They used shells as filler in a later development of their walls. “It drained quickly and dried in case of floods.” A soggy life.

A portal tomb 

Inside the very earliest type of monestary church from the AD 400’s

Below is a Codex book. The Irish monks invented the type of books that we know, with pages. Before that all books were scrolls. Thank you, Irish monks.




The Scriptorium 





Two Gaelic words for you (the top on each sign). All signs in Ireland were written in both Gaelic and English.




A watery way to the Viking encampment

A Viking house

Good Bye Emerald Isle

Random Shots

Castle walls

Fairy house

Formal garden



Tree house at a castle

Castle Ruins and Farmyard

Movie Set

In the city of Trim are ruins of not just an Abbey this time, but also the biggest Anglo-Norman castle in the world. This particular castle was used, with set developments, as the setting for Brave Heart. It is suitably picturesque.

The exterior walls with the Barbicon Gate. A moat ran along the walls and through the arch. A drawbridge led from the left square tower up into the round tower to the right of the arch.

The cruciform Keep

Inside the Barbicon Gate House 

In Trim

Manor House Farm

Many old family estates now supplement their existence with letting the public come in to wander their grounds, for a fee. In return, the estate puts out things to see. We saw one today that added animals to their walled gardens, forest paths, old farm machine collection, croquet lawn, and grand house. Some were common animals, like bunnies and goats, but they also had their local cattle breed -now quite rare - and oddities like the four-horned Jacob sheep.

Jacob sheep. The two back horns are broken short. The wool is bridled and mottled and patched and streaked. It did not oblige me with a better pose.

This is our last day of travels. Tomorrow we go home, D.v.

Birr and a Pony

Quiet Day

We spent this Ireland-trip-day in town, just walking around. This place prides itself on being a fine example of Georgian architecture. It has some pretty churches and gardens and the colorful spots of paint typical of Irish towns.

Inside the Catholic Church, from turn of the century.

Floor tiles

Resurrection stained glass window

And as we were strolling by this river, a car and small trailer pulled up, stopped, and three guys let out a rather dirty pony. One led the pony into the stream at a ford, then they brought it out and started scrubbing it with shampoo. Why, I don’t know.

Later today, when I was out without my camera (major mistake), we saw a small pony on a jog cart driven by a young man come around the corner at a very quick clip and trot away into town. Both ponies had very heavy feathering on their legs. Quite picturesque.

And a Watercolor Sketch

With time, one paints.

That is rule.

A colony of Puffins returns to the Cliffs of Moher each year to nest. They were not back yet, so I decided to make my own.

Abbeys and Castle

More Ruins

We saw a couple more ruins of Abbeys today, with their accompanying graveyards. Impressive stone work.

Also we stopped at a pretty brick-work schoolhouse-turned-museum. It was closed.

Gorgeous Gardens

We also visited the grounds of a still-lived-in castle. It has 120 acres of manicured landscaping, thousands of kinds of trees and flowering bushes, two rivers converging, numerous bridges, the ancient spring of Saint Brenden, and an enormous telescope built by the third earl of this family. It was the largest in the world for seventy years, and allowed the discovery of new galaxies. 

The telescope set up, now rusting away.

Birr Castle set in its own moat

One of numerous redwood trees, from California, 200 Years old. It would take at least three men’s outstretched arms to encircle this trunk. I didn’t have three men on hand to demonstrate.

Saint Breden’s Well

A cherry tree lane, just starting to bloom.

A wishing well. “ You can wish for love, but not for money.”

The inside walls of the well structure, with shells from the mistress’s collection.

One log. Two seats. Impressive piece.

And more tomorrow, D.v.