In early Irish Christianity , churches were built of wood or occasionally of earth – presumably small boxlike structures with corner beams. But the double church for monks and nuns at Kildare , as described by St. Brigid’s seventh century biographer Cogitosus , suggests a larger , taller building with chapels and drapes , as well as painted images.

Hispercia Famina , another text of the same period , describes a church of massive timbers with a central altar, a western porch , and four steeples.

Stone churches became more popular after A.D. 800, but wooden churches continued to be built in the twelfth century.

You will find old ruined churches and fascinating historical examples on any tours of Ireland.

Our Belfast tours take you beyond the city to see some fine examples such as St Cuthberts , where the sailors from the Spanish Armada , are buried. See it when at the Giants Causeway , its a real hidden gem.

Saturday afternoon. Arrive @ Manor House Marine, Killadeas and check into cabin cruiser. Settle in and explore the marina. Option to play 9 or 18 holes of golf, play tennis or relax in the luxury Spa at the Manor House Resort Hotel. Dinner in Manor house Resort Hotel Belleek Restaurant.

Visit.                 www.manormarine.com
www.manor-house-hotel.com

Following breakfast onboard depart Killadeas and head West for InishMacSaint Island (approximately ½ hours cruise). Visit the ancient InishMacSaint church and the Celtic Cross. Devenish Island is a must see and the round tower is magnificent.

Head for Castle Archdale Country Park (approximately ¾ hours cruise). Explore this 230-acre 18^th century estate and visit the museum. Tea and coffee available. Lunch onboard.

Leave Castle Archdale and head for Lusty Beg Island (approximately ¾ cruise). Archery, 4×4 off-road driving and canoeing all available or just relax at the indoor swimming pool on the island. Sunday evening meal at the Island restaurant.

Visit.                 www.lustybegisland.com

Following breakfast at the island restaurant the cruiser departs for Castle Caldwell (approximately 1 ¼ hours) to visit the 17^th century castle and explore the beautiful forest walks. Lunch onboard.

Depart Castle Caldwell and head west for the town of Belleek (approximately 2 ¼ hours). Visit the world famous Belleek Pottery factory. Monday evening diner @ Carlton Hotel.

Visit.                 www.hotelcarlton.co.uk

After breakfast in the Thatch Coffee Shop depart for Belleek and head east through the Broad Lough to Enniskillen (approximately 4 ½ hrs cruising). Lunch onboard. Based in Enniskillen for the night.

Visit any of the following:

Enniskillen Castle Museum; Butter market; Town centre shopping; Enniskillen Golf Course etc

Tuesday evening meal at Franco’s Restaurant.

Visit.                 www.francosrestaurant.co.uk

Following breakfast at the Butter market depart and head to Carrybridge for an early lunch (approx 1 ½ hrs). Depart Carrybridge and head for Crom Castle and Country Estate for Wednesday night. Visit the National Trust visitor centre and museum during the afternoon. Following a tour of the castle the evening meal is served in the Castle dining room.

Visit.                 www.cromcastle.com

Thursday morning depart Crom and head for Inish Rath Island, home to a Hare Krishna Temple. Meet the locals and visit the Temple. Lunch on the island. Depart after lunch and head through Foalies cut to the town of Belturbet. Dinner in the French restaurant Les Rendezvous.

Following breakfast in Belturbet town depart for Naan Island (approx 3 hours cruising) for a lunch stop onboard. Depart Naan Island and head to Enniskillen (approx 2 hours cruising). Evening meal in Café Merlot followed by farewell drinks in the town’s oldest pub, Blake’s of the Hollow accompanied with traditional Irish music.

Saturday morning depart Enniskillen and head back to the cruiser base in Killadeas. Late breakfast available at Manor House Hotel.

Ireland Luxury Tours are working in conjunction with Manor House Marine to make these options possible.

If you are considering a tour of Ireland then this is a fantastic option to see one of the very finest counties.

The present structure dates mainly from the 1870s, when a major restoration took place, making the cathedral look more Victorian than Anglo-Norman.

It was in this period that one of Dublin’s most charming structures was added: a Bridge of Sighs-like affair that connects the cathedral to the old Synod Hall, which now holds the Viking multi-media exhibition “Dublinia.”

Highlights of the interior include magnificent stonework and graceful pointed arches, with delicately chiseled supporting columns.

Remains from the 12th-century building include the north wall of the nave, the west bay of the choir, and the fine stonework of the transepts, with their pointed arches and supporting columns. Strongbow is buried in the cathedral beneath an impressive effigy.

The vast, sturdy crypt, with its 12th- and 13th-century vaults, is Dublin’s oldest surviving structure and the building’s most notable feature.

The Treasures of Christ Church exhibition in the crypt includes manuscripts, various historic artifacts, and the tabernacle used when James II worshipped here.

On your tour of Ireland be sure ti visit Christ Church Cathedral when in Dublin.

We at Ireland Luxury Tours have taken many clients and they have all been suitably impressed.

Welcome to Dunbrody Abbey, founded in 1170, one of the finest examples of a Cistercian Monastery in Ireland. Attractions include the Abbey, the Maze with Pitch & Putt, Craft Shop and Tea Room.

Herve de Montmorency became the first Abbot of Dunbrody and died there in 1205, at the age of 75, and was buried in the Abbey. The Abbey flourished for several centuries, but not without certain problems. In 1355, the Abbot and his monks appear to have taken to the Highway line of business, for it is said that William de Ross, Abbot of Dunbrody, and Adam and Hugh Barry, monks, were indicted for imprisoning one Thomas Herlyn, a monk of Tintern, and stealing two of his horses to the value of forty shillings. Also they expelled Thomas de Wiggemore, Abbot of Tintern, and robbed him of three horses to the value of eight marks. They were acquitted, perhaps fortunately.

The Abbey’s demise started when Alexander Devereux, the last Abbot of Dunbrody, granted to the King, his heirs and successors, the Abbey and all its possessions circa 1542. Alexander Devereux changed religion, and became the Bishop of Ferns. The lands and Abbey then came into the possession of the Etchingham family. In 1642, Jane Etchingham, the heiress, married the second Earl of Donegall, whose descendants (Chichester family) own the lands to this day. It was handed over by the Chichester family to the Office of Public Works in 1911, and is maintained to the standards you see today by them.

Ahidden gem for your tour of Ireland…..highly recommended by Ireland Luxury Tours

In 1101, Muirchertach O Briain, king of Munster, gave the Rock of Cashel to the church. A round tower, which still stands today, was erected shortly after this. A decade later, in 1111, Cashel became the seat of an archbishop. (At the time there was only one other archbishop in Ireland, located in Armagh.) The original cathedral was located where the choir of the present one now stands, but nothing is known of it.

Cormac’s Chapel, a magnificent little Romanesque church that still survives today, was consecrated in 1134, probably for Benedictine monks. The town of Cashel at the foot of the rock was founded by the archbishop sometime before 1218 and a Dominican priory was established in 1243. The present cathedral was erected in the 13th century as well.

The frescoes in Cormac’s Chapel, which are the oldest Romanesque wall paintings in Ireland, were covered with whitewash at the Reformation (16th century) and remained hidden until the 1980s.

Visitors enter the Rock of Cashel complex through the Hall of the Vicars Choral, built in the 15th century. The vicars choral were laymen (sometimes minor canons) appointed to assist in chanting the cathedral services. The Hall was restored in connection with the European Architectural Heritage Year (1975) and contains a small museum of artifacts excavated on the Rock of Cashel.

The earliest and most lofty of the Cashel edifices is the round tower next to the cathedral’s north transept. It originally faced the west end of the 12th-century cathedral. Rising 28 m (90 feet) high and dating from shortly after 1100, it is a well-preserved example with six floors. Only the roof has been rebuilt, in the 19th century.

The Chapel of King Cormac or Cormac’s Chapel was consecrated in 1134 and is the most important building, historically and architecturally speaking, at Cashel. Begun in 1127, it is a very sophisticated structure, unlike most Irish Romanesque churches which are very simple in plan with limited decoration. It has two square towers flanking the east end of the nave, which may suggest Germanic influences or may be an adaptation of the Irish round tower.

The exterior of Cormac’s Chapel is beautifully decorated with typical Romanesque details such as repeating blind arches and carved corbels. The south portal has two zigzag arches and a tympanum with a relief of an animal. The north portal has a gabled porch, indicating it was the main entrance before the cathedral was built up against the north side of the chapel.

The chapel’s interior contains the oldest and most important Romanesque wall paintings in Ireland. The oldest, dating from about 1134, consist mainly of masonry patterns and can be made out in places on the lower walls. The remaining paintings date from c.1160-70 and are visible on the upper walls and vault. These depict narrative scenes such as the Nativity, and their sophistication suggests the artists were from England or Normandy.

At the west end of the chapel is a beautifully-carved sarcophagus that may be the tomb of Cormac himself, or maybe his brother and predecessor, Tadhg (d.1124). Its decoration is in the Hiberno-Scandinavia Urnes style of the early 12th century, featuring interlaced beasts and serpents. The sarcophagus probably originally stood in the 12th-century cathedral, which no longer survives. The tomb was discovered in the north transept of the present cathedral in the 19th century.

The cathedral, built between 1235 and 1270, is an aisleless (and roofless) building of cruciform plan with a central tower. The nave is much shorter than the choir and clearly was never completed.

The short nave was reduced a bit more in the 15th century, when a five-story castle (tower-house) was added to the west end as a residence for the archbishop. The castle was accessed on the second floor from the passage in the nave walls.

The most attractive elements are the transepts (c.1270), with triple lancet windows. On the east side of the transepts are square chapels, two on each side, all with piscinae and three with tomb niches. The north transept contains late medieval tombs and grave slabs found at the site.

The long choir is elevated at the east end and contains grave slabs dating mostly from the 16th century. The south wall of the choir contains a piscina, sedilia, and wall tomb of the late 16th-century archbishop Miler McGrath.

Throughout the structure, it is possible to discern the dates of the decorative elements based on the material used: the original 13th-century work is in sandstone, while later work is in limestone.

The grounds around the buildings are home to an extensive graveyard, which includes a number of beautiful high crosses. The entire plateau atop the rock is walled. Visible from the west side of the Rock are the desolate ruins of Hore Abbey, a Cistercian foundation of 1272.

Near the base of the hill in the town of Cashel is a ruined Dominican friary, which was founded by the archbishop in 1243, renovated after a fire in 1480, and dissolved in 1540. The monastic buildings have not survived but the church walls are mostly intact. Dating from the mid-13th century, the church is notable for nine lancet windows on the south wall of the choir, which are thought to be the earliest examples of a design seen at other Dominican foundations in the area (namely Athenry, Sligo, Ardfert and Ferns). The windows in the east wall, south transept and west gable date from the mid-15th century. The transept, added c.1270, is one of the earliest examples of the “preaching transepts” that became a common feature in medieval Dominican churches.

We at Ireland Luxury Tours recommend that you see the Rock of Cashel on your tour of Ireland.

Our tours out of Belfast and our tours of Ireland visit Portbradden……Ireland Luxury Tours know all of the real hidden gems……Even our cruise ship tours can see Portbradden….