Field Trip to Ardmore

Church and Round Tower

The first monastery was founded in Ardmore by Saint Declan, a pre-Patrician Saint in the 5th century. At that site are the later remains of an ecclesiastical enclosure. Inside the enclosure are the remains of Saint Declans oratory, the 'Cathedral' shown above, a 12th century round tower and two ogham stones. The Cathedral, which consists of a nave and chancel, was built during the 12th century in three phases. The main feature of this church is the arcading on the west face.

The arcading consists a row of thirteen panels of which nine still contain Romanesque figure sculpture (see top image). Below these panels are two lunettes also containing figure sculpture. Some of the iconography of the panels have been identified. Shown right is a detail from the lunette on the north side of the west face featuring Adam and Eve. The lunette above features the adoration of the magi with the Judgments of Solomon above it. The round tower, which was also built during the 12th century, has four floors and stands 29 meters high with a 5 meter diameter at the base.

Things we did on the Cliff Walk:

• St. Declan’s well and Church, Saint Declan founded a seminary in Ardmore circa 416. The holy well served as a Baptistery to early Christian Missionaries. 
• The coastguard station 1867 – taken over and burnt down by republicans on independence.
• The castle – built as the same time as the coast guard station, both abandoned in 1921
• The spectacular wreck of the crane ship ‘ Samson’
• The cliff walk at Ardmore has an amazingly diverse range of flora, comprising of 113 species of wildflower, grasses and fern including orchids, vetchs, wild thyme and blue scabious.

LOT OF HIKING! I'm still sore!

Here is a picture of the route we walked....this was after the 10 minute walk to the beginning of the "hike".....

Famine Memorial

After this hike we went to a famine grave yard. It was very moving, he read us a poem in the graveyard and all around us there were thousands buried beneath the ground we were standing on..... 

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