Sliced Bread

Yesterday dawned beautiful and bright. I know we talk about what good weather we’ve had. But yesterday was a stunner. 

Kells, of “Book of Kells” fame, is just a hop and a skip down the road. Oh yes, we are up to our eyebrows in history here. We had seen the Book of Kells over in Dublin, as I’m sure you will remember if you were paying attention, children. A long time ago, even before sliced bread, the Vikings were making noises about attacking Iona over in Scotland, AGAIN! So the St Columba Monk team decided to move to a safer place in Ireland where they had been given land. And that was Kells. 

They either brought the beautiful illuminated scriptures with them, or wrote it here. We don’t know. Anyway, it became known as The Book of Kells.  It got stolen once from this tower in 1007.

I think Hercule Poirot found it and brought it back. 

Kells also has a group of “High Crosses”. There are 4 in the graveyard and 1 in the market. 

They have Bible stories carved on them to help teach the illiterate population.

 We also met the Knights Hospitalliers again. Their abbeys gave safe passage to pilgrims on their way to the Holyland back in the 1100’s. One of the Knights’ tombs can be seen in this abbey graveyard. 

On the edge of town we found the Spire of Lloyd, a folly built like a fake lighthouse which the Earl of Bective erected in 1791 as a memorial to his Dad. Take note Stone boys. 

He also gave a plot of land to be used by the workhouse to bury paupers It was in use from 1835 to1920. There are no grave markers and it is so moving to think that these people were dying of hunger amid such wealth. 

At the suggestion of a man there, we drove over to Loughcrew to see a 5000 year old “Passage Tomb” built before the pyramids. It is on the top of a hill, of course,

 and one of a series that we could see on hilltops around.

 We were able to get the key from the interpretive centre and crawl inside. My claustrophobia  kicked in but I managed. 

There were 4 chambers forming a small cross. All had carvings on the rock. The entrance was positioned so that on the spring and autumn equinox the sun came through and illuminated the carvings on the back wall. 

Then we went to Tesco and bought sliced bread.