Flat Niamh's Journal Entry from Monasterboice Abbey County Louth, Ireland

Sophie and her family took Flat Niamh to see Monasterboice, a monastery which was founded by Saint Buithe, a follower of Saint Patrick,  in the late 5th century.  The name Monasterboice comes from the Irish place name Mainistir Bhuithe which translates as "Buithe's Monastery". 

St. Buithe's Monastery was an important center of spirituality and scholarship until the Cistercians arrived and built nearby Mellifont Abbey in 1142. There is archeological evidence to suggest that the site had Pre-Christian significance as well.  It is located in County Louth, about 6 miles northwest of Drogheda.

The site draws between 70,000 to 100,000 visitors each year and has a number of fascinating  features. Sophie and her family took some very nice photos of Flat Niamh at the site.  Let's start with a journal entry from them, in green (what other color could we use?). 

Well we had a great day with Flat Niamh at Monasterboice. Lots of pictures. Monasterboice is about 3 miles away from our house so we started our trip there. It was once a monastery founded by a bishop, it's over 1000 years old. There are also 2 churches: a north and south church and of course the famous high crosses, one of them is over 6 meteres tall. Followers of St. Patrick built it and he is the patron saint of Ireland, and when St Patrick died and went to heaven he went up the ladder inside the tall tower and all the way to the top took him straight to heaven or so we were told!

The Round Tower

(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Here are Sophie and her daddy posing with Flat Niamh on the steps of the tower. 

Monasterboice's round tower is over 30 meters (110 feet) tall and was divided into four or 

more stories inside, connected by ladders. The tower was used as a belfry, watch-tower, and a refuge for monks and valuables such as manuscripts during times of Viking attack. The small monastic community founded by St. Buite thrived for centuries until it was seized and occupied by Vikings in the 10th century.  Donal, the High King of Tara, defeated the Vikings as the story goes, single-handedly killing 300 of them. Records indicate that the interior burned in 1097, destroying many valuable manuscripts and other treasures. The tower is currently closed to the public.

Another view of the tower. 

Well if the tower is 110 feet tall, don't those crosses look quite large as well?  That's because they are.  The site is most famous for its high crosses, two of which are considered to be the finest examples in Ireland. Both are made of sandstone and date to approximately the 10th century. 

Muiredach's High Cross

Here are Sophie and Flat Niamh in front of Muiredach's High Cross: can you see the cat just over both of their right shoulders?

The 5 1/2 meter (18 feet) Muiredach's High Cross is regarded as the finest high cross in the whole of Ireland.  It dates to the 10th century, and was built in honour of an abbot who lived on the monastic site. It contains 62 carvings from the Old and New Testaments, and was probably built for education purposes.  Muiredach's cross has been described as the most beautiful specimen of Celtic stonework now in existence.

Here's a detail of the cats (or lions) and the inscription which reads: ÓR DO MUIREDACH LASERNAD IN CHROS, which translates from Irish as "a prayer for Muiredach who had this cross made."

Here is a link that has photos of all four sides of the cross:
http://ireland.wlu.edu/cross/Muiredach/east/index.html


Here are photo details of various scenes carved on the cross:
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/muiredach/muiredach.html

Here is the Wikipedia entry for Muiredach's Cross which has a very detailed diagram of all the carvings on the cross with descriptions of their references to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muiredach's_High_Cross#Description_of_panels

The West Cross

The West Cross or the Tall Cross (pictured below) is the tallest high cross in Ireland  and stands about 7 meters (nearly 23 feet) high.  It also dates to the 10th century. 

Here is a link with details of the scenes depicted on the West Cross:

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/monaster/monaster1.html

There are also two churches on the site which were built in the 14th century. They are referred to as the South Church and the North Church.  Notice that not only is the placard below in both Irish (the official language of Ireland) and English, but the Irish comes first. 

The South Church

Sophie and Flat Niamh standing in the remnants of the South Church.......gosh that looks very familiar......

Well there's Niamh a few years ago in the very same spot! 

The North Church

Sophie with Flat Niamh in the remnants of the North Church

"Here's the coordinates if you'd like to view it on Google maps: 53.7776° N, 6.41759° W"

Well we plugged those very coordinates into Google Earth and here is what we could see:
  

And you can zoom in a bit closer, should you use those coordinates with Google Earth yourself to see the site. This will give you an idea:

It is a great deal simpler to save images from Google Earth to post here on the blog than trying to do so with Google Maps, but both provide a good deal of information about places and are well worth exploring.  For example, using Google Maps, one can choose street view to see the Gift Shop and car park for Monasterboice to get an idea of how amazing the site is to walk onto as it isn't easily seen from the road. 


Here's a link to the Google street view of the house that now serves as the Monasterboice Gift Shop:
http://goo.gl/maps/Kqa4
You can use it to see 360 degrees...........can you see Monasterboice?  

"We went yesterday evening around 5pm, it was a nice dry evening but starting to get cold."

A beautiful shot of the tower and one of the high crosses at sundown

An Irish sunset from the Monasterboice Tower

Coming next: Flat Niamh's Journal Entry from Mellifont Abbey and Newgrange.....