churches historical ireland

An old schoolhouse built in 1898 is the location of the Ardagh Heritage Centre. It houses an exciting exhibition which outlines the history of this exquisite village. The story of Ardagh is one of history, literature and storytelling. This exhibition draws on the rich fabric of Ardagh life down through the ages, from the roots of the village in Irish mythology, to its development as an important early church and its emergence as a model estate village. Over the years, Ardagh has played host t...

The Catholic Church has inside the gate an octagonal stone font with two sections .

The Celtic Cross was erected in the grounds in 1870 in memory of Fr Nicholas sheehy, one of the five people hanged in Clonmel in 1776 on perjured evidence for an alleged murder.

The shaft in the mode of the early Christian high crosses, bears a wide range of religious cum nationalist themes including the Good Samaritan , and Daniel O'Connell with the Catholic Emancipation Act. St Patrick...

Christ Church was originally built in 1830 by Bishop Knox and was called the Free Church as it was intended solely for the poorer classes; ironically it later became the most bourgeois of the city congregations. The Church was almost completely rebuilt in 1903 and the name was changed to Christ Church by Bishop Alexander who seemingly disliked saints.

It stands at the foot of Brooke Park facing St Eugene's Cathedral.

Admission: Free

Location: Leading to Northland R...

The foundation of the first monastery is attributed to St. Cronan, otherwise called Mo-Chua, who lived possibly in the 6th century. The monastery is first mentioned in 776.
It was plundered by the Vikings in 832. In 1076 the southern half of Ireland demanded the expulsion of O'Ronain from the abbacy as it was claimed that he held it against the rightful abbot.

This probably means that the monastery had fallen into lay hands by that time. The most important remnant of the monaste...

Castle:
The Castle was allegedly built by King John in 1213, but was probably not erected until the middle of the 13th century. An enclosure, reached from the street through a 19th century gateway, was surrounded by a strong wall with one rectangular and two D-shaped towers in it. At one corner is a tall rectangular tower with a fine vault and a fireplace on the second floor. The upper floors have an unusual selection of passages and stairs leading to various defensive positions...

A number of wells rise up at this eerie spot where one could imagine that people in times past could have wondered at the primeval power of nature. St. Patrick is said to have visited the place, and the water is said to cure 'sore lips, sore eyes, the scrofula and several other chronic diseases'.

In the middle of a pond is an early cross, and beside it is a church which was built on the site of a 12th century edifice, but which in its present mutilated form dates probably from the 16...

Its earliest part is the nave, probably erected in the 12th century when the Augustinian Canons took over an earlier monastery associated with St Nechtan. The exterior east end of the nave still preserves slight extensions of the north and south walls beyond the gable ends. More unusual is the blind arcading still traceable in the eastern interior corners of the nave, which helps to provide a date no earlier than the second quarter of the twelfth century. Now closed off from the nave by a woo...

A good example of a medieval parish church which has a fine 15th Century south doorway, and a contemporary east window. One of the corbels at the east end of the north wall is decorated with a carved head. An upper storey at the west end may have been used as a fortified residence....

This is probably the oldest Irish church still in use. The western portion of the church, with its lintelled doorway, is said to have been rebuilt by the Abbot Cormac O'Killeen in 969, and the church is reputed to have been repaired again by Brian Boru, around 1000. It now serves as a Heritage Centre displaying many Romanesque fragments. The eastern portion of the church is 12th century in date; it has corner columns, but it is doubtful if the two south windows in the eastern part of the chur...

Directly to the south of the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin Cemetery may be entered from Finglas Road, off Phibsborough Road. Here lie many famous Irish men and women of the past 150 years - Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, Eamon de Valera, Maud Gonne, Roger Casement, and the rivals of the Civil War now united in death. 'All these here once walked round Dublin', reflects Leopold Bloom in Ulysses, 'Faithful departed'....