Page 51 - The Drivers Guide 2019

The Driver's Guide
Athlone castle
JN 12 (R446) TOWARDS ATHLONE
Surely there must have been a bridge here since ancient times – here where an Ice Age ridge (an esker) fords the mighty Shannon, halfway between Dublin and Galway?
When the mythical Brown Bull of Ulster overcame and defeated Connacht’s White Bull, his remains were scattered across the land. Ath Luain – Athlone, right in the heart of Ireland – is where the loins were left. Áth meaning ford and Luain, loins. The King of Connacht constructed the first recorded Bridge of Athlone in 1120, for forays into Meath. Within a few decades the Normans replaced the wooden bridge with a stone one. Plus a
many-sided stone castle to watch over it, on the river’s western bank.
So the castle faced its enemies from the east. Over the many centuries, its enemies came, and never so devastating as in 1691. A year prior, besieged by 10,000 troops loyal to William III, the town managed to survive. Now these Protestant forces returned, their numbers swelled to more than double. Athlone’s great nine-arch Elizabethan bridge was unbreached. But they found and crossed the ford, devastated the town and forced the castle to surrender. One account says they fired 12,000 cannon balls; another that they killed 12,000 Catholic
Jacobites. Such symmetry suggests the truth is blurred. But whatever the figures, victory was theirs − and it was bloody.
Standing on these battlements today the scene is tranquil – colourful left- bank buildings jostling up against the castle’s walls, the wide tree-lined sweep of the Shannon, the silver waters of the weir, tourist boats departing for Clonmacnoise and Lough Ree, and modern Athlone on the opposite bank, busy with commerce. Inside the castle, 21st-century displays cut through the mists of time, revealing Ireland’s tumultuous past through the stories of this ancient ford.
Clonmacnoise monastic site
M6 VIA R357 AND R444
Clonmacnoise, the ancient monastic site in Shannonbridge, County Offaly boasts impressive structures of Clonmacnoise Cathedral, Temple Doolin, Temple Hurpan and Temple Melaghlin.
It is a place of wonder and reflection where one travels back through time to
mid-6th century Ireland when saints and scholars roamed this earth. Founded by St Ciaran in the mid-sixth century, it became a great centre of religion and learning.
Many historical manuscripts, including the 11th century Annals of Tighernach and the 12th century Book of the Dun
Cow, were written here. Today, the site exists as a preserved ruin under the management of the Office of Public Works and visitors can see three high crosses, a cathedral, seven churches and two round towers.
IRELAND’S ANCIENT EAST 49