Engaging Ireland - Episode 20 - Top 10 Monastic and Spiritual Sites in Ireland

Our Choices for Top 10 Monastic Sites in Ireland

In the next few episodes, we will be taking a look at our Top 10 lists for Ireland. Seems like everyone is putting together a “Top 10” list these days, so we thought we would share some of our top choices for Ireland. We have chosen our favorites from several categories; for example, we’ll list our top ten favorite towns/cities, our top ten. Why didn’t we limit ourselves to just one list of Top 10 Favorites? It’s too hard! And, while we admit we haven’t seen everything there is to see yet, these are our favorites thus far.

We begin the podcast series with our Top 10 Monastic/Spiritual Sites. Ireland is virtually littered with sites dating back thousands of years. These are the sites we are most drawn to again and again. For more information on any of the sites we mention, please click on the links below. NOTE: Many of the sites are part of Heritage Ireland (www.heritageireland.ie). If you purchase an OPW Heritage Card, you can enter these sites for no cost or reduced cost.

Skellig Michael

http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=757

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-West/SkelligMichael/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skellig_Michael

Interesting web book entitled “The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael” by Walter Horn, Jenny White Marshall, and Grellan D. Rourke:

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft1d5nb0gb;brand=ucpress

Boat operators to Skellig Michael:

http://iguide.travel/Skellig_Michael/Overview/Boat_Operators

Loughcrew

http://www.knowth.com/loughcrew.htm

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/MidlandsEastCoast/Loughcrew/

http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/ireland/loughcrew.html (Great Photos)

Loughcrew House, Gardens, and Adventure Course

http://www.loughcrew.com/

Rock of Cashel/Hore Abbey

http://www.cashel.ie/

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-East/RockofCashel/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hore_Abbey

Clonmacnoise

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/MidlandsEastCoast/Clonmacnoise/

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/clonmacnoise

Kells (Co. Kilkenny)

Site with comprehensive information about Kells Priory

http://kells.frantzen.de/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kells_Priory

Kilree Round Tower and High Cross (just up the road from Kells)

http://www.roundtowers.org/kilree/index.htm

Glendalough

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/GlendaloughVisitorCentre/

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/glendalough

Dublin

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/index.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patrick%27s_Cathedral,_Dublin

Christ Church Cathedral

http://cccdub.ie/

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/dublin-christ-church-cathedral.htm

Hill of Tara/Hill of Slane

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/HillofTara/

http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/tara/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_of_Tara

http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/slane/index.html

http://www.slane.com/hillofslane.htm

Quin Abbey

http://www.nd.edu/~ikuijt/Ireland/Sites/mdonnel2/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quin_Abbey