Holiday - Northern Ireland - 1 September - Downpatrick

After Inch Abbey we went to the community center for lunch and then over to The Mound of Down. The following information was taken from pamphlets about the sites from the Downpatrick community center, Department for Communities."The Mound of Down or 'Dundalethglas' is one of the most impressive earthen fortifications in Northern Ireland. It may have been a royal stronghold of the Dal Fiatach, the dynasty which ruled this party of County Down in the first millennium AD. 

The Mound of Down is a large egg-shaped enclosure, defined by a steep bank and wide outer ditch. Once it was a harbour surrounded on three sides by water and the original entrance to the Mound is on the south side away from the Quolie Marshes. An Anglo-Norman castle was built on top of the site by John de Courcy after he led the invasion of Ulster in 1177 but his earthwork, which can still be clearly seen, was either unfinished or later altered for artillery. De Courcey built Down Cathedral on a similarly fortified hill close by. Before the construction of a tidal barrage across the Quoile Estuary in 1745, this Mound was surrounded by tidal mudflats and saltmarsh. Many of the drumline hills rising from the marshes were islands, one home to the Benedictine Monks of Inch Abbey. The Mound was almost surrounded by sea at high tide and was of strategic importance as it commanded the estuary.

After the Mound of Down we went to the Down Cathedral. Sadly we missed going inside by minutes, but we still were able to wander the beautiful grounds. The following information was taken from pamphlets about the sites from the Downpatrick community center, Department for Communities. "Located on a hill surrounded by water and trees, the site of Down Cathedral was an important location for Celtic worship for thousands of years before Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. Following the Saint's death and burial on this elevated location, a small monastic community grew around St Patrick's grave, which was first recorded in 753AD. The stone church and round tower of this monastery was noted in the Annals as being burned by lightning in 1016. The medieval Cathedral which we see today traces its origins to the Invasion of Ulster, when the Norman Knight John de Courcey ousted Rory MacDunleavy, the last King of the Dal Fiatach, and established a Benedictine order there in 1177.

After a turbulent start, and despite being burned by the liked of Edward the Bruce in 1316, the 'House of St Patrick' flourished until the suppression of the monasteries in 1541, when it became a ruin. Although successive Anglican deans continued to be installed within the ruined walls, there were no funds to rebuild the Cathedral until 1790 when the first Marquess of Downshire and dan Annesley, provided the impetus to commence the restoration - a project which even attracted a gift of 1,000 pounds from King George III. 

Down Cathedral now boasts one of the finest pipe organs in the British Isles, impressive Mayer of Munich stained glass window and continues to welcome people of all faiths and traditions to one of the most important spiritual sites in Ireland."

While at Down Cathedral you can visit St Patrick's Grave. The following information was taken from pamphlets about the sites from the Downpatrick community center, Department for Communities. "By the early medieval period St Patrick's grave had become an important site for the developing church and a small monastery had grown around it. At this time the tradition of the hill being the burial place of Saints Brigid and Columcille had been added to the legend of St Patrick, giving rise to the well known couplet. 

"In Down, three saints one grave do fill, Patrick, Brigid and Columcille."

A massive granite stone marker was placed on Cathedral Hill in the early 1900's to protect the grave from the many pilgrims who visited, some of whom were known to take scoops of earth from the grave abroad with them when they emigrated."

 

 

After spending the day in Downpatrick we had dinner at The Galley (for the third and final time) with Gordon and Sally. Then we went back to Sally's house for tea and ice cream. 

Holiday - Northern Ireland - 1 September - Inch Abbey

After Saul Church we went over to Inch Abbey. The following information was taken from pamphlets about the sites from the Downpatrick community center, Department for Communities. "Inch Abbey was originally the location of a church called Inis Cumhscraigh situated on an Island in Quolie River marshes north of Downpatrick. Only fragments of this church survive. It was plundered by the Vikings in 1002 in a raid led by Sitric, King of the Danes. 

The Norman Knight John de Courcy and his wife Affreca replaced the early church in 1177 with a Cistercian monastery and populated it with monks from Furnss Abbey in northern England. He commissioned one of these monks - a man called Jocelyn of Barrow-in-Furness, to re-write the legends of Saint Patrick and it might have been at Inch that the story of St Patrick banishing the snakes from Ireland was written. This legend refers to the ousting of evil from the Island of Ireland. 

The abbey at Inch follows a standard Cistercian plan with a cruciform (cross shaped) church constructed in the gothic style c. 1200. The church consisted of an aisled nave to the west, two projecting transepts to the north and south and the un-aisled chancel to the east. This chancel with its elegant triple pointed lancet windows and the clustered pier in the chapel was far from sophisticated than any that existed in Ireland at that time. The putlogs (open scaffolding holes) remain visible in the chancel. "

As we were leaving the Inch a wedding party arrived to take photos and when we were back in the parking lot I thought it was pretty cool that they had these cars for the wedding party. Another fun thing we learned in the parking lot was that Game of Thrones filmed on location at Inch Abbey as well and there are now groups that come to the Abbey daily dressed in GoT attire. GoT is huge and I feel like the 1% that has never seen it.

Holiday - Northern Ireland - 1 September - Saul Church

September 1 will consist of 3 blog posts - mainly cause we saw so many places. We went to Downpatrick. Downpatick is an ancient city and is the burial place for Saint Patrick. The following information was taken from pamphlets about the sites from the Downpatrick community center, Department for Communities. "We started the day at Saul Church. Saul Church is built on the site of Saint Patrick's earliest place of Christian worship in Ireland, founded by the Saint in 432 AD. Originally made of wood, the church has been rebuilt many times - most recently 1932 to celebrate the 1500th anniversary of its foundation. 

When St Patrick came to Ireland strong currents swept his boat from the Irish sea through the Strangford Lough Narrows and he landed at the Slaney River, near Downpatrick. The High King's brother, Dichu, was quickly converted and gave him a barn or Sabhail in Gaelic, from which the name Saul derives. This became the first church in Ireland. Some early writers say that, when close to death, St Patrick was told by an angel to return to the place from which you came, that is, Sabhall', where he died on the 17th of March around the year 461AD. It was said that the surrounding countryside was lit by hundred of bonfires, like a sea of stars, to mark his passing. 

The ancient site at Saul has many interesting artefacts including stone-built graves, a souterrain and an important collection of cross-carved stones, ranging in date from the 8th to the mid 12th century when St Malachy introduced Augustinian Canons here. "