Driving South to the Sea

Tuesday, August 26th

Today we drove south for a view of ancient Ireland, ruined abbeys, and a lighthouse built over 800 years ago. Our first village of note was the coastal town of Dunmore East.  As we turned the corner there was a small village highlighted with a row of thatched roof cottages overlooking the sea. We were not at all certain that the cottages were old but the ambience was perfect. 

Dunmore East

A few miles north we took the car ferry from Passage East, County Waterford a short distance across the Suir Estuary to Ballyhack, County Wexford on our way to the Hook Peninsula. Rather quickly, without u-turns, we reached Dunbrody Abbey before it opened. We walked around the exterior of the ruins and returned to the visitors center just before a friendly lady drove in to open the building. For the grand sum of two Euros we were entrusted with the key and an interior diagram and send off down the drive with instructions to return the key when we were done. 

Dunbrody Abbey

Next we retraced our steps through Ballyhack to Tintern Abbey. But that's in Wales I hear you say, and you would be right. Although smaller, this one is a similar plan and, it is believed to be built be some of the same craftsman who crossed the sea at the request of Cistercian monks.

Tinturn Abbey

Mike climbing the wall into the ruined churchyard

Continuing through the coastal towns of Saltmills and Fethard we stopped at the ruins of a 15th century castle in Slade. The castle set beside a small harbor of fishing trawlers was small, unkept, and uninteresting and the wind was blowing a gale. 

Slade Harbor

Moving less than a kilometre we arrived at Hook Head to climb its lighthouse that dates from 1172, the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in the world. From yet another amazingly cheap and amazingly interesting guided tour we learned that Cistercian monks had kept fires burning on Hook Head as a warning to ships since 500 AD. The lighthouse was built by a merchant to protect his trading ships en route to New Ross, a harbor since Roman times. The monks continued maintaining the flame with coal shipped from Wales. For 400 years they stored the coal on the ground floor and humped it up 100 stairs to the top. Paraffin replaced coal and was used until the introduction of electricity. Nowadays the lighthouse is fully automated and managed remotely from Dublin.

Hook Head Lighthouse

The sea at Hook

On our way back up the peninsula we called in at Loftus Hall, a large manor home, reputedly the most haunted house in Ireland, intending to join a guided tour. Instead we learned that they had lost power several hours earlier and the generator was nearly dead so there would be no tours. Perhaps something to do with ghosts or evil spirits?