Gotta be a cemetary here somewhere

 

It was a bit of a running joke with the golf group, now 20 years ago, that all the best golf courses were next to a cemetary.  The Celtic Crosses in the cemetaries are ancient and impressive.

So when high school classmate Jim Monte suggested that he spied an old church on top of a far away hill in one of my posted photos, it was instantly on the list to be discovered.  


Why yes, it is straight uphill with the steps long gone.  Friend Jim will be receiving the invoice for my hip surgery.  

Many of the headstones had names I recognized from local businesses, indicating the families have been here for eons.  Here are the views:







The church began as Protestant and the vicar converted 45 people to his faith (Church of Ireland).  Only "prods" were to be buried here.  But since they only had 2 burials average a year, they decided to open it to everyone.  Erected in 1778, it fell to ruin when St. Andrews was built in 1831 for Church of Ireland and a new Catholic church was built in 1954.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Walk on Main Street

Image
  My Front Door, 2 on left. It's Sunday morning and you all have enough to read be it the hymnal or the paper, so I've put together a photographic tour of the traditional Irish storefronts here in Ennistymon.   I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy living amongst their cheery exteriors.
Read more

The Blarney Blog

Image
  For far too long I have daydreamed of immersing myself in the culture of a small Irish town.  If a pandemic teaches you anything, it's 'just do it'. August 2022 I will reside in Ennistymon, County Clare, close to the West Coast of Ireland.  Population 1,045.  Plus one Yank.  I'm guessing they won't change the sign just for me. The village has 2 supermarkets, 2 bookstores, a bakery, coffee shop, butcher, library, several art galleries, restaurants and about a dozen pubs.  Everything I could possibly need. The condo I've rented is above a podiatrist, which I figure is fortuitous given that I am not renting a car (thereby avoiding notoriety for incorrect lane abuse) and will be hoofing it throught town and to various bus and train stations.     This is the town PR photo, featuring "The Falls".  Very cool. And so my Irish adventure begins....
Read more

Just One More Adventure

Image
  Last item on the list: The Aran Islands.  And not a moment too soon as I have but 2 days remaining.   The ferry leaves from Doolin Bay, above, and sails to your choice of 3 islands: Inis Oirr, population 150; Inis Meain, population 250:  or Inis Mor, population 750.  Give me the Big One! Inis Mor is home to about 3 pubs, 2 cafes, gift shops selling trinkets (and Christmast ornaments!!) gas station, small grocery store and 3 retailers selling what the islands are famous for: Aran Sweaters.   A couple of ferries drop off  several hundred tourists during the day into the waiting arms (and pocket books) of 20 tour mini vans,  half a dozen Trap & pony  and 2 bicycle rental shops.  Which means the 2 roads around the island are chock full of vans, carriages, bicyclists and hikers. When they made the no-bigger-than-3-golf cars-across roads, they forgot to factor in that everyone of these tourists were going to share them , not always ...
Read more