Ireland: History & Heritage - High crosses and wild places, emigrant stories and epic history

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum tells the myriad stories of the millions of Irish emigrants transplanted to every corner of the globe over the centuries. Nearby, the ‘Jeanie Johnston’ is a replica of the barque that in the mid-19th century transported thousands of victims of the Great Famine to North America on a series of voyages. First of two nights in Dublin. 

The 19th-century nationalist politician Charles Stewart Parnell and the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were among the many political and revolutionary figures incarcerated in the forbidding Kilmainham Gaol, now a museum. The modern history of Ireland is told through its prisoners. The Collins Barracks site of the National Museum focuses on the decorative arts and history with exhibits on the Irish at war and changing fashions. 

Trinity College is one of the world’s oldest and most venerable seats of learning, counting Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett among its many eminent alumni. Our visit takes in the Old Library and the incomparable Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the New Testament from c.800ad. Works at the National Gallery include The Battle of the Boyne (the fateful battle between William III and James II in 1690) by Jan Wyck and The Liffey Swim by Jack B. Yeats, as well as works by the European masters. Our journey to Cork is broken at the dramatically sited Rock of Cashel, ancient seat of the Kings of Munster, and its complex of remarkable medieval buildings – notably Cormac’s Chapel with its Romanesque frescoes. Overnight in County Cork. 

Cobh – formerly Queenstown – is one of the world’s greatest ports of emigration. Between the 1600s and the 1960s some three million people boarded ships here, bound mainly for North America, though some sailed in the holds of convict ships to Australia. In 1912 Queenstown was also the last port of call of RMS Titanic. Housed in the old railway station, Cobh Heritage Centre commemorates an unparalleled legacy of human upheaval. Overnight in Dingle. 

Our day on the Dingle Peninsula takes in the Fahan Beehive Huts (or clocháin), a collection of nearly 40 drystone dwellings dating back to the 12th century; the Blasket Centre, looking out on Great Blasket Island, which celebrates the culture of the offshore Blasket Islands and the tiny community of Irish speakers who eked a living there till 1953; and the enigmatic Gallarus Oratory, thought to be one of Ireland’s oldest structures. Overnight in Limerick.

The village of Kilfenora in County Clare is known as ‘the smallest city in the world’ due to its medieval cathedral. It is also renowned for its collection of 9th- and 10th-century carved Celtic crosses. We cross the Burren on a scenic route that takes us to our accommodation in Galway – first of two nights.

The ferry from Rossaveel takes us to Inishmore, the principal of the wild and windswept Aran Islands, where the 800 inhabitants still speak mostly Irish. The Iron Age fort of Dun Aonghasa forms a horseshoe of ramparts atop the southern seacliffs while a group of seven ruined medieval churches is clustered in the remote west. 

With its infectious friendliness, bohemian spirit and walled medieval heart Galway is regarded as one of Ireland’s most attractive cities. The City Museum reflects its maritime heritage, the period of the Great Famine and the turbulent years following the 1916 Rising. Fifty miles east lies the ruined monastic complex of Clonmacnoise (with a cathedral, seven churches and elaborately carved gravestones), a major centre of learning and religious study a thousand years ago and largely abandoned by the 13th century. We stay overnight to the west of Dublin. 

An utterly charming house from the beginning of the 18th century, Beaulieu has a walled garden which runs down to the fields beside the Boyne estuary. Inside there is the lived-in patina unique to family homes and a couple of outstanding paintings. En route to Belfast, Monasterboice is another monastic settlement, with two churches, a medieval round tower and, notably, three early medieval high crosses. The one known as Muiredach’s High Cross is 20ft high and regarded as the finest in Ireland.First of two nights in Belfast.

Hillsborough Castle is not strictly a castle but a grand 18th-century house, the official residence of both the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and His Majesty the King and other members of the Royal Family on visits to Northern Ireland. Amid the grandeur of the state rooms the politics of the province is never far away. The Anglo-Irish Agreement, heralding the end of the Troubles, was signed here in 1985 and in 1998 in the State Entrance Hall, Prime Minister Blair delivered his famous ‘hand of history’ speech that preceded the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. 

The tour ends after breakfast.