This was a big travel day as well - while Blarney Castle was a huge day for sites in one area, this was a huge day for sites everywhere. I didn't even know how to title this blog because of it.
Let's try and make this easy. We were coming from Springfort Hall Hotel in Mallow, to get to Elements B&B in Lisdoonvarna. We stayed there from July 24th-26th, 2022. Elements B&B was my favorite place to stay. We saw the neatest sites in this location, it was also rainy and cold which is my favorite weather, and the place itself was perfect. It felt homey like a B&B should, while also having privacy and hotel feel by being in a separate wing of the main house. Not to mention, the hosts were so kind. We got to know the best beach the locals went to, as well as a map of all the historical sites we needed to see (that will be featured below) of the area. We bonded over what it would be like when I had my child, and the man there made a great, American-size breakfast.
Quin Friary
On our journey to the B&B, we stopped at one of my favorite places I went to on the whole trip, Quin Monastic Friary, or Quin Abbey in the village of Quin.
"Quin Friary, locally known as Quin Abbey, consists of an impressive cluster of buildings that form the focal point of Quin village. The friary stands on the ruins of the Anglo-Norman castle that was built by Thomas de Clare in 1278. Its success as a fortification was short-lived because the Gaelic Mac Namara’s, in whose lands the castle stood, razed it to the ground in 1318.
The friary that was founded in 1402 by Síoda Cam Mac Namara, lord of Clancullen. Through a decree of Pope Eugene IV, it was passed to the Franciscans of the Regular Observance in 1433 by Maccon McNamara. From 1433 until 1820, the Franciscans were associated with the building – a total of 387 years. The friary, containing one of the best examples of an intact cloister in Ireland, was suppressed by King Henry VIII around 1541.
In 1640, the building became a college and is said to have had 800 students at its peak. Oliver Cromwell’s troops arrived 10 years later, killing the friars and ending the large friary community. In 1671 the building was again restored, but never regained its former status. Eventually in 1760, the remaining friars were expelled. The last friar, John Hogan OFM, remained in the local community until his death in 1820, by which time the buildings had fallen into ruin."
Source: https://quinheritage.ie/quin-friary-short-virtual-tour-12-minutes/
It was raining and just a beautiful scene to drive up to.
Here is the first section, that's more so outside without a roof.
This leading to hallways surrounding a courtyard - you can also see all of the headstones laying in the ground.
This room was my favorite - it was dark and because it had been raining so much, water was dripping from up top and streaming into the stone creating a trickle echo.
There were green fields surrounding the abbey, and a trail I saw a woman walking her dog in. The abbey runs alongside the Rine River so I'm sure there's a nice nature trail next to it too.
So much beautiful and detailed architecture.
Some shots from the outside - this is a huge complex with many portions to it. Below is a picture that highlights its' layout.
Source: https://quinheritage.ie/quin-friary-short-virtual-tour-12-minutes/
This is one of the four corner towers of the castle that the abbey was built upon.
A mausoleum surrounded by various graves.
This church is right next door to the abbey. Saint Mary's Catholic Church, which is still running to this day.
One last shot of it all with the rain, some mist, the church to the right, and the virgin Mary up front.
The Burren
"The vast, moon-like Burren in County Clare is one of Ireland's most compelling landscapes. Here, cool grey rock etched with crevices and cracks tumbles down to the wild blue Atlantic Ocean. The result is one of nature's most extraordinary phenomena: a huge rocky pavement dotted with rock formations, caves and fossils, as well as an incredible array of flowers, from native species to Arctic, Alpine and Mediterranean plants."
Source: https://www.ireland.com/en-us/destinations/regions/the-burren/
This was the first portion of the Burren we saw. We stopped on the side of the road and walked out. It was very windy. It was after this time that we made it to our B&B and dropped off our stuff. The male host suggested a beach him and his wife enjoy regularly where we could continue to see the Burren landscape.
Driving into the beautiful, quaint, coastal village of Fanore.
More sights of the Burren.
Fanore Beach is the suggested beach from our host where we stopped and walked along.
A lighthouse on the Burren.
Tobercornan (The Pinnacle Well)
"Tobercornan is hard to miss as a result of its ‘super-structure’, a Gothic revival well house built in the 1860s. It is an extravagant structure with pinnacles, buttresses and an arched doorway. It was almost certainly built by the landlord as a folly – a highly ornamental structure with little practical use. There is a niche at the well in which offerings are deposited.
There are steps from the entrance down to the holy well, which takes the form of a in a hollowed-out ‘basin’ of the bedrock. A sign inside reads ‘Clare Co Council drinking water. Please keep clean’. The source of the well water is the summit of Cappanwalla Mountain. The water emerges from the underground at Tobercornan in the form of a naturally-occurring spring."
Source: https://heritage.clareheritage.org/places/holy-wells/tobercornan-tobar-chornain-the-pinnacle-well-gleninagh
More angles of it.
A small structure cross the street.
Remember my first Ireland blog of that structure where many people tied ribbons to foliage? It looks like there's significance to it since it's here as well.
Continuing on...
This is the remnants to an ancient round fort that was closed off so we couldn't get in. It was on our list of sites to see but we didn't see much of it. The dirt mound in the photo is pretty much all that's left of it.
We continued on our drive and saw more of the Burren, until we hit this entrance below.
Leading to the...
Cahermore Fort
"Cahermore, from ‘An Chathair Mhór’ (Big Stone Fort), is a medieval fort that although ruinous still dominates the surrounding karst landscape of the Burren. Cahermore was the defended farmstead of a wealthy Burren landowner. The fort is roughly fifty metres in diameter, with walls 3 metres in height and depth. The entrance lintel and the buildings just inside its entrance date from the late medieval period, 14th or 15th century. I have seen the inner buildings described as both livestock pens and guard chambers depending on the source. Surrounding the Caher itself is another circular wall about 121 metres in diameter which is believed to have been built at a later date. Limited excavation was carried out at the site when the lintel stone fell down in the late 1990s, a coin from 1690 was found. Also a scallop shell excavated from below the foundations was carbon dated to around 1300."
Source: https://visionsofthepastblog.com/2017/03/11/cahermore-stone-fort-clare-ireland/
Here is the wall surrounding it.
The land surrounding the fort was just breathtaking.
Poulnabrone Dolmen
This site is all the way from the stone age.
"Poulnabrone – Geosite
Situated on the high Burren limestone plateau, Poulnabrone Dolmen is one of Ireland’s most iconic archaeological monuments and is the second most visited location in the Burren after the Cliffs of Moher. It is the oldest dated megalithic monument in Ireland.
Portal Tomb
Poulnabrone is classified as a portal tomb. Portal tombs have two large portal stones standing on either side of an entrance capped with a massive sloping capstone. A second stone which lies on the ground at the rear of the monument was likely a second capstone which would have fitted in under the main capstone and covered the back of the structure. This part collapsed at some unknown time in the past. The tomb was built on limestone pavement and surrounded by a low mound of rocks. This mound of rocks would have added support to the upright stones which are otherwise only supported by the weight of the capstone. The uprights are not wedged into the deep fissures which are common in the limestone. The limestone flagstones which were used to build the monument would have been extracted from the surrounding limestone pavement."
Source: https://www.burrengeopark.ie/discover-explore/geosites-discovery-points/poulnabrone/
Various angles of the tomb. There isn't much known about the history of this tomb, but the source I linked goes into the bones they found for the timeframe of it.
Continuing on...
We left this site and found two ruins on our way out and back towards the B&B.
I don't have any information on this site, but if you do let me know and I'll add it in here.
This is the Leamaneh Castle remnants.
"Although now little more than a shell, Leamaneh Castle was once a fine building situated between Inchiquin and Kilfenora on the edge of the Burren in County Clare.
A stronghold of the O’Brien clan, it was inherited some time in the 1630s by Conor O’Brien. He and his wife, Mary MacMahon, also known as Máire Rua MacMahon or Red Mary, added various extensions and outbuildings until the castle become one of the grandest in the country.
These extensive works were possible due to her considerable wealth, which she inherited after the death of her first husband, Daniel Neylon. She and Daniel had three sons, but after his passing she married Conor and bore him several more children. Together they made the castle into a truly magnificent residence.
Today it is abandoned, empty and known as one of the most haunted Irish castles. However, it stands proudly isolated, and it is easy to imagine how imposing it must have been all those years ago."
Source: https://www.theirishplace.com/heritage/red-mary-ghost-leamaneh-castle/
And now it's time to show you the last site we saw for the day. This site I only have two photos of (by itself and without me) and it's why I couldn't say Quin Abbey was my favorite site. This was actually the first site we saw going to the B&B and we went all the way back so I could get photos of it after we saw all the rest that's been featured in this blog.
Doonagore Castle
Picture as you're driving, you see this magnificent castle by the sea. Coincidentally, a song came on my playlist called "Her and the Sea" by CLANN as we passed by this which made the entire feeling of seeing it more perfect. The rain was going, the winds were fierce, the clouds were covering the land - and this fairytale castle showed up after a hill as we were looking down towards the ocean. It came out of no where, and we passed it quickly. When we went down the hill later for photos, no one was there. It was behind a gate so I couldn't get any closer either.
"Although the current Doolin Castle, which was constructed from sandstone, is believed to date from the mid 16th century, there was a castle on this site (or very close by) as far back as 1,300.
Like most of the many castles in Ireland, Doonagore passed through a number of hands over the years.
In its early days, the castle passed between two of the strongest clans in County Clare – the O’Brien’s and the O’Connor’s. In 1570, the castle was owned by a member of the O’Brien clan, named Sir Donald O’Brien.
12 years later, in 1582, it was granted to a member of the O’Connor clan. Not long after, in 1583, the tower house and its grounds were surrendered to the Crown and were granted to a lad named Turlough O’Brien from the village of Ennistymon.
Shipwreck and Murder
Here’s where the story of Doolin Castle gets a little bit mad. In 1588, a ship from the Spanish Armada got into difficulty off the coast of Doolin and crashed close to the castle.
170 of the ship’s crew managed to make their way out of the wreck. Sounds like a happy ending, right? Yea, well, all was going to plan until the High Sheriff of Clare arrived.
ALL of the survivors are believed to have been hung at the castle or at a site nearby that’s known as ‘Cnocán an Crochaire’ (AKA Hangman’s Hill).
Post-1641 Rebellion
After the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Doonagore Castle was granted to a fella named John Sarsfield as a result of the Cromwellian settlement.
If you’re not familiar with this, the Cromwellian settlement was introduced after the Rebellion. It included a number of penalties (death and the forfeit of land) against those that had taken part in the Rebellion of 1641.
Many years later, in the 18th century, Doolin Castle was passed to a family called the ‘Gore’s’. The castle had fallen into disrepair at this point and the Gores went about repairing much of it.
Current owners
By the mid-19th century, Doonagore Castle had yet again fallen into a state of disrepair. Then a private buyer named John C. Gorman (an Irish-American) swooped in and bought it.
The castle was restored to much of its former glory in the 1970s by an architect named Percy Leclerc. Fast-forward to 2023 and the castle is still owned by John C. Gorman’s family."
Source: https://www.theirishroadtrip.com/doonagore-castle/
The most beautiful site I saw in all of Ireland - and you could blink and miss it if you weren't paying attention.
So there is the end of day five in Ireland. I know this entire series has taken way too long to come out. I have little excuse other than being a new mom with a Velcro baby. I won't give up on this series, or blog, though. It'll be done soon and then I'll explore someplace closer to me. I'll see you next time.
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