Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...

We got an early tender to shore and met up with our tour guide for the day, Sean. Today’s adventure was off the beaten path for the area known as Fingal to see castles and abbey’s. Sean made a detour through Dublin to show us the Jeanie Johnston Famine Ship and the Famine Memorial. The memorial, which stands on the Customs House Quay is a remembrance of the Great Famine (1845-1849), which saw the population of the country halved through death and emigration to North America in search of a better life. It is astounding, how downtrodden and persecuted the Irish Catholics were…however, the Irish were a strong lot and made a better life for themselves in North America. The refugee’s legacy has strengthened North America, not destroying it, they have moved on leaving their struggles in the history books. Leaving the city of Dublin, we headed north to the Fingal area, this area is loaded with castles and churches. This tour today demonstrated to us how the Irish endured the Viking, Norman, or Cromwellian invasions, as well as Henry VIII’s suppression of the Catholic Church, monasteries, the penal laws and the horror of absentee landlords exporting food during the time of a national famine. Our first stop on this tour was Mellifont Abbey. This Abbey is evidence of a Neolithic settlement found in an excavation in the 1960s. The two Churches which stand on the site today were built in 14th century. The round tower and the 3 crosses all date from the 10th century. The high crosses were scriptural and used to tell the stories from the Bible to the congregation. There is always an advantage to having local knowledge and our guide Sean certainly provided it…We stopped at Mrs. White’s house to pick up the key to the field, by the way, Mrs. White owns the farm where the FourKnocks is located. Fourknocks meaning Cold Hills is a neolithic passage tomb built about 5000 years ago. Passage Tombs in Ireland were built by groups of farming people between 3000 BC and 2500 BC. Fourknocks has a short passage we ducked down to enter leading into a very wide pear-shaped chamber. Three smaller recesses open off this chamber. When discovered in 1950 archaeologists found more than 65 burials of adults and children, decorated pottery vessels and personal ornaments including 88 pendants and beads. Next, we stopped on Balrothery to get a photo just below the Balrothery Castle and church built by Normans. We then traveled to Fingal to see the Ardgillan Castle and estate. Unfortunately, the Ardgillan Castle was undergoing a major renovation and shroud in scaffolding. We did however tour the grounds and had tea in the garden. From here we went to Skerries a quaint fishing village and former Viking settlement on the shores of the Irish Sea. The village has the first Martello Tower built in Ireland during the Napoleonic period. Off the coast of Skerries is St. Patrick’s Island, this is where St. Patrick came ashore to relocate to Ireland from Wales. In the distance we could see Rockabill Lighthouse standing guard over the Irish Sea. From here we drove to Baldongan and stopped at Baldungan Castle, an ancient ruined church and nunnery near Skerries, Ireland. After a brief stop, we were off to Lusk to see the round tower. This tower was built in a he 9th century by Christians in an attempt to foil the Vikings. The round tower consists of 4 stacks and has been well preserved. Next, we visited the delightful village of Swords to see the Swords Castle. This castle is thought to have come into existence sometime in the early 13th century, when it was established as the residents for the Archbishops of Dublin. The castle is undergoing a major renovation…the chapel has been completed and is lovely with its beautiful stained-glass windows and oak beamed roof. A recent discovery of burials beneath the gatehouse shows that the Castle has yet to give up all of its secrets. We had a grand day touring the charming Irish countryside with Sean…his knowledge of history and his Irish humor was impressive…as well, the weather was absolutely perfect…we could have not asked for a better day for our last stop in Ireland. Thank you, Sean, for showing us your beautiful country.