churches historical clare

A small church dedicated to St Cronan of Roscrea, or Tuamgraney. The original lintelled doorway in the west wall was blocked up when an arched doorway was inserted into the north wall, probably some time in the 15th century. In the exterior walls there are some grotesque Romanesque heads, so the church probably dates from the 12th century. Near the church is a stone tomb-reliquary of uncertain date, which is locally said to mark the grave of St. Cronan. Another stands in the adjoining field....

Donal Mor O'Brien founded a church on this island in the Shannon estuary for the Augustinian Canons some time towards the end of the 12th century. In the 15th century a tower was built to the south of the nave, and two chapels were added. Most of the domestic buildings are of the same period; they comprise a sacristy next to the church, a chapter room in the east side, and a kitchen, a pantry and refectory on the ground floor of the south wing. There were no buildings in the western portion....

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...

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....

There is a somewhat doubtful report that the monastery was following the Benedictine rule in the 8th century. The Vikings burned the monastery in 836 and again in 922. Brian Boru is said to have built one of the churches on the island, while his brother, who died in 1009, was Abbot. Around 1043 a monk at Inishcaltra named Anmchad was ordered to leave the monastery because, as Guest-master, he had offered wine to the monastery's guests without the Abbot's permission. He left for Fulda in Germ...

St. Flannan's Oratory in the cathedral grounds is a well-preserved stone-roofed Romanesque church which dates from the 12th century....

The cathedral was founded about 1185 by Donal More O'Brien on the site of an earlier Romanesque church, the doorway of which is preserved in the south-west corner of the Cathedral. The Cathedral is in the form of a cross, and has three narrow lancet windows in the east gable. Beside the Romanesque door near the main entrance is one of the few stones in the country with a Viking runic inscription; it is unique in that it also has the same inscription in Ogham asking for a prayer for Thorgrim wh...

St. Molua's Oratory: in the grounds of the Catholic church on the hill-top may be found another example of early Irish church building. This is the small oratory of St. Lua or Molua from whom Killaloe got its name. Only the chancel is roofed, with a high pitched roof of stone. Of the nave nothing remains except some walling. The oratory, originally on Friar's Island about 1km downstream from Killaloe, was removed to its present location in 1929, when the raising of the river level thr...

A resort town, 12 km from Ross, built along a fine beach in Moore Bay, the entrance which is protected from the full force of the Atlantic by a reef known as the Duggerna Rocks.

Kilkee has, of course, like virtually every townland in Ireland, an early history of saints and warriors but its career as a seaside resort took off in early Victorian times. The affluent families of Limerick City built themselves summer villas, "lodges", near the beach which offered safe swimming, ocean bree...

St. Senan, who died in 544, founded his monastery here in the first half of the 6th century. One of his pupils was St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise. The monastery was ravaged by the Vikings in 816 and again in 835, and was probably even occupied by them from 972 to 975, but was recaptured by Brian Boru. The most conspicuous part of the old monastery is the Round Tower, 120 feet high, which is unusual in that the door is at ground level.

Just to the east of the tower is the Cathedral, a chu...