Thursday 19 October 2023

Oweynagat-The Cave of the Cats

Oweynagat

County Roscommon

There are those of us who are not cave specialists, Speleologists in technical terms.

Access to and being inside smaller and more accessible caves for us is a unique experience we don't often get to have.

As you enter and begin to descend, a Coal black darkness envelops you that is darker than the darkest of nights.

It's combined with an eerie silence which is disturbed only occasionally by waves of sound echoing and reverberating around the chamber whenever you speak or make a noise.

A stillness permeates the darkness, any breeze long since abandoned as you make your way into the alien subterranean world from terra firma above.

The air is usually moist and more often than not crisp and cool rather than dank and malodorous.

Creatures of dry land and daylight this otherworldly realm seems both ethereal and ephemeral, fleeting and fragile, its tranquility shattered by the slightest of movements.

One such subterranean world is Oweynagat in Roscommon, the Cave of the Cats and occasionally called the Gate to Hell.

Oweynagat is not a contiguous cave system which continues and branches out. It is a single modest cave which ends after about 50 metres or so. It is easily accessible to most.

The entrance to the naturally formed cave was used as a Souterrain, a type of manmade underground passageway usually associated with both the Iron and early medieval ages.

The Souterrain may have been used to hide food and provisions, weapons, or in times of war or fighting even people.

Most unusually the Souterrain entrance to the cave has an Ogham stone for a lintel. There is also a second Ogham stone I missed on my visit.

Sometimes called the Tree Alphabet- A diagram from Ferrycarrig Heritage Park.

Ogham stones are stones which have a linear type of 20 letter early Irish alphabet (occasionally Latin) carved onto them.

Upright Ogham stone - National Museum of Ireland

The letters usually spell out a name. They appear like slash marks carved in small groups on the sides and are usually but not always standing upright vertically.

They are a unique artifact chiefly associated with early Christian Ireland and appeared around c. 350 C.E. A small number are also found in Britain.

How the entrance to Oweynagat ended up containing an Ogham stone I've no idea but it is highly unusual indeed.

The hardest part of entering Oweynagat cave is finding the cave itself. Located not far from Rathcroghan archaeological complex (Connaught's ancient Capital) the cave is hidden under a roadside Hedgerow or Berm and small Hawthorn trees. It is easily missed.

While knowing little of Speleology, hydrology nor geology the easily identified "scalloped" sides of the cave suggest it has been formed by a process of Millenniums of water action carving out the long gallery.

There are many myths and legends associated with Oweynagat, particularly concerning Samhain, Halloween. I've added a link below to a good article by Gary Dempsey on Oweynagat cave.

The entire area around Rathcroghan and Oweynagat is covered with literally hundreds and hundreds of Ringforts and Bronze age Barrows, a veritable archaeologists Disneyland.

Keep the wheels turning.

Coordinates here:

53°47'50.2"N 8°18'37.9"W

Sources and further reading:

Souterrains - Pegasus Caving Club

RTÉ - Irelands Gate to Hell

Caves of Ireland.com

Tuesday 17 October 2023

Clonamicklon Castle, Tipperary

Clonamicklon Castle

Several times from away in the distance I had noticed the outline of Clonamicklon Castle in silhouette against the sky, generally as I was travelling elsewhere.

I had no idea what it was called or exactly where it was located but finally one day I found myself driving nearby so I called into the landowner and she graciously gave me permission to wander around and take a few photographs.

It is possibly an early 1300's construction and consists today of the ruins of what appears to be a Tower House, partial Bawn Walls and two further corner or "Flanker" Towers.

Judging by its size it was at one time a large and substantial fortification.

A fortification at the site of Clonamicklon Castle is listed on the sites and monuments record by Jean Farrelly as having been built in 1306 by John Butler.

peerage.com has a John Butler of Clonamicklon born in 1305 and he is listed as the son of an Edmund Butler but this may well be incorrect infromation.

Today all that remains of the Castle are the ruins and remnants, which while decayed, still easily convey the size, shape and scope of its former glory.

Clonamicklon is taken in literal Irish, Cluain Ó Míolchon, to mean "the meadow of O'Mílchon".

Coordinates here:

52°39'19.1"N 7°34'59.2"W

Keep the wheels turning.

Sources and further reading :

Clonamicklon Castle - Slieveardagh

Geograph.ie/Castles of Munster

Clonmickalon Castle

Derrynaflan Trail Booklet

logainm - Clonamicklon placename

Saint Cualan's Bell Shrine, a Tipperary oddity in Borrisoleigh

Saint Cualan's Bell Shrine

A Tipperary Oddity at Borrisoleigh

Borrisoleigh in Tipperary is a small village where quite by accident I came across an unusual item.

This was a perfect replica of Saint Cualan's Bell Shrine.

Originally the little Bell Shrine would have been used to house the Bell itself.

It is also referred to as the Bearnán Chúláin Bell Shrine amongst other names as well.

The little oddity is located in the Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart.

Little is known of Saint Cualan and indeed this name may be a corruption of an entirely different spelling.

He is reputed to have been from nearby Glenkeen.

The Bell Shrine has sometimes been described as one of the most important pieces of medieval ecclesiastical metalwork in Ireland along with Saint Manchan's Shrine at Boher in Offally.

It is intricately decorated in the Scandanivian Urnes style with Niello decoration and believed to date from circa 11th/12th Century. The Bell it once housed may have dated back to the 7th Century.

There are two carved human heads on opposing sides near the top and there is clearly the outline of a Cross on the front which once adorned the Shrine but was stolen at some stage in its history.

As far as I am aware the original Shrine is in the British Museum and the museum had a replica made and given to the Church. Prior to ending up at the British Museum it had been located in Birr, County Offaly in the possession of one Thomas Cooke.

Before Thomas Cooke came into its possession it was discovered hidden inside the hollow of a tree.

Cooke was originally from the Borrisoleigh area in Tipperary which may help explain his subsequent possession of the Shrine at Birr.

The Sacred Heart Church itself is also a hidden gem.

It has some stunningly beautiful mosaic tiling by the Chancel which appeared to my untrained eye to have an oriental or middle eastern influence.

My photographs didn't captured them properly at all so I haven't included those particular photos.

There is also a beautiful wooden ceiling above the Chancel almost like a timber cupola.

The church is full of interesting and colourful Stained Glass windows including several from the workshops of Joshua Clarke and Sons of 33 North Fredrick Street in Dublin.

Joshua was the father of renowned Stained Glass artist Harry Clarke.

Located in the Church grounds there is also an old Fountain/Water Pump and trough erected originally by the Sanitary Authority of 1856.

Just outside the Church is a glass window showing the old Pub and Publican James Ryan, who had a Licence to sell alcohol on the premises.

There are not too many of these old glass Pub signs still around although occasionally you do come across them here and there.

They serve as a nice reminder of the recent past and it's great to see some of them still surviving "in situ".

Located at the corned of this building which once served as a Public House is an almost imperceptible Mile Stone/ Mile Marker.

It gives the distance to Templemore as 5 Miles and three Furlongs and is probably from around the early 1800's.

Again its another interesting relic from the past and days when most travel was undertaken on Horseback, walking or Horse and Carriage.

It was originally a Wheel Guard, aka "Jostle Stone" and was repurposed as a milemarker.

Unfortunately I didn't get to spend very long in Borrisoleigh so I guess that gives me a good an excuse as any for another visit at some time in the future.

It's a lovely little village well worth visiting and I suppose you could always incorporate a nice short walk up the nearby "Devils Bit".

Keep the wheels turning.

Below are some photographs from the British Museum and a few more of mine of the Church itself and its Stained Glass windows.