This, Is Ireland

As it was time for something completely different, we drove away from the sea, and into the heart of Co. Cork to the Lee Valley, where the River Lee runs through to Cork City.  This is a landscape of trees, shrubs, dairy cattle, grazing land and crop land.  This land is also dotted with many ruins, to which, we are forever drawn.

The ruins are not signposted, so we had to sleuth them out, by scanning the landscape, by studying the rivers, by looking at our inadequate maps and by guessing which little road to drive down next.  We were forced to slow down, as it takes time to look, time to see, and time to appreciate what was right there surrounding us.

Our first stop was the market town of Macroom, which sits on the banks of the River Sullane.  The castle was built by the O’Flynn family in the 12th century.  The O’Flynn’s were defeated by the McCarthy’s, and they held the castle until the mid 17th century.  When Cromwell was waging war in Ireland, the Castle and most of the town were burned; eventually, Cromwell gifted it to one of his friends.

Macroom is a real Irish town, where the shops advertise that ‘girls confirmation dresses are now in’, where the book store does not carry a tourist book, where many shop windows have a lovely Easter display and where the coffee shop is frequented by locals.  The patrons consisted of: old men having tea or coffee and cake; where a mom and her son, dressed in his school uniform, had latte for her and a sweet drink for him; an elderly man and woman having cappuccino and cake and afterwards, she bought an entire fruit loaf for less than the price of two cappuccinos and where John and I basked in the ordinariness of it all.

Brightly painted shops in Macroom

Gateway and Tower - Not Ancient

Macroom Castle

Bridge over River Sullane

Macroom Castle

Murphy's, the choice of Cork stout drinkers 

We drove east of Macroom and embarked on our hunt for ruins.  After driving through the same town about three times, trying every road, we finally found the correct little river, the Dripsey, which flows through the town of Dripsey, but the castles were out of town, down the last road we could find.

The wonderful ruin of Carrignamuck Castle sits high above the Dripsey River in the trees.  Just upstream is the private Dripsey Castle, which cannot be seen from the road.  Only the ornamental tower and the gatehouse are near the Dripsey River, next to a wonderful bridge.

Carrignamuck Castle

Dripsey Castle Gatehouse

We then found the Kilcrea Castle and Kilcrea Abbey quite easily, as there was a sign off the main highway.  The Castle sits among overgrown trees in the middle of a field.  There is a trail through the field, even when it is in crop.  The field was in some type of cereal crop last season, but the sketchy straw indicates that the crop was not a good one.  We walked through an opening in the stone wall and through the field to the ruin.  This is a really great ruin, which is only inhabited by birds.  There would have been a lot of activity here in days long past.

We walked all around the Castle in a field of water saturated grass, so that we could get photos from every conceivable angle.  We had to jump a stream as well, but this is why one should never set foot outdoors in Ireland without waterproof hiking boots.

Kilcrea Castle

The Kilcrea Abbey is across the road, so we walked back through the field to the Abbey ruin, which sits in another field, but the Abbey is fronted by a grassy approach through the trees.  The Abbey is a splendid ruin that provides a lot of opportunity for really good photos.

Kilcrea, meaning, Woman of Cre, for the woman, who founded a hermitage prior to the Franciscans founding the Friary in 1465.  This is reported to be a very good example of an Irish Franciscan monastery.

Kilcrea Abbey

This landscape of mountains, hills, misty river valleys, ruins, history, fields, cattle and ordinary towns is what Ireland is really about.  If you ever find yourself in Ireland, flee from the tours, the kitsch, the shopping, the must see lists - get out and lose yourself in the land, where you will find something else.