The Ancient Durrow Abbey
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325793)
Rockingham, Australia
November 17, 2015 8:09am CST
From Pollagh on the canals in Ireland we headed to Durrow Abbey in Co. Offaly and some five miles from Tullamore. On the way we stopped at a bog and walked out on the boardwalk. I took photos of some of the plants including an insectivorous sundew which looks the same as the one we have in our Australian bush. These are sticky and once an insect lands on the flower tiny fibres close over the insect which is then digested to provide food for the plant.
The original abbey at Durrow was founded by St Columba in 553. We walked down to a nearby well, passing some friendly cows along the way. The young ones had been wading in the mud. We also saw an elegant gaggle of geese in the area.
In the recently restored church is a fine example of a mid-ninth century high cross. This was elaborately carved on all surfaces. In the churchyard the plaque stated that in 1997 the people of the parish had celebrated the 14th hundred anniversary of St Colm Cille (Columba). We have a few things in Australia that might be a couple of hundred years old now but 14 hundred years? Once again, my mind is boggling at the age of some of the sites we visited.
I created this video with the YouTube Slideshow Creator (http://www.youtube.com/upload)
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8 responses
@xFiacre (12597)
• Ireland
17 Nov 15
@Judyev We do seem to have a wealth of antiquities. My favourite is an abbey in county Mayo that is in ruins, is isolated and hard to get to, and sits on the edge of an estuary filled with interesting birds. The combination of ancient history and ancient nature along with the lack of any markers to give away the current date make fertile surrounds for an over active imagination and I can sit there for hours in the rain.
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@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Nov 15
That sounds a very special place. I feel less affinity with places where the car park is full and hundreds of people are milling around. There was only one other car at this place which was nice for a change.
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
17 Nov 15
I took students to Bamberg one summer. It was their 2000th anniversary celebration. Our country was just a little over 200 years old at the time. Mind boggling.
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@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
17 Nov 15
@JudyEv We don't have anything this old in my country, not even trees.
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@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Nov 15
I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. It is hard to know what to put in and what to leave out.
@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Nov 15
The flowers were very pretty but mostly quite small. The pond is, I think, a holy well (of Colm Cille) and people make a pilgrimage there each year from the church. It's only a hundred yards or so from the church. But I didn't take notes and I couldn't find anything to confirm that it was THE well so I didn't put anything in the text about it.
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@RasmaSandra (73444)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
17 Nov 15
@JudyEv sounds like an interesting place. I love exploring old places.
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@cindiowens (5120)
• North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
18 Nov 15
Sounds like you had a really exciting time.
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@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Nov 15
We certainly seemed to see a lot of stuff, now that I'm going back over my journal and writing more about it.
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
17 Nov 15
Since I cannot travel, no funds, this makes me want to go read. I read fiction that often has these types of settings and some historical. It seems you are finding this to be quite the change from your usual travel at home.
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@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Nov 15
We have nothing approaching the antiquity of these places so we find that quite novel. Australian aborigines didn't leave any lasting 'monuments' bar some rock art. It's a totally different scenario from what we're used to.
