From medieval Carlingford in Louth to Blarney Castle in Cork, discover the top 100 places to visit in Ireland's Ancient East. Wander through time at sites such as Clonmacnoise, Newgrange and the Rock of Cashel, as well as at hidden gems like Athassel Priory in Tipperary, Loughcrew Passage Tombs in Meath and Heywood Gardens in Laois. From dolmens to round towers, Anglo-Norman castles to historic gardens, over 5,000 years of Ireland's history, heritage, archaeology and folklore are waiting to be discovered. Find out - which round towers can be climbed - where there is a 2,000-year-old trackway across a bog - which famous garden features a piece of the Berlin Wall - where St Nicholas is buried Included is practical information about each location and what to expect from the visitor experience. With easy-to-follow maps and specially commissioned photographs, this is the first guide to Ireland's Ancient East.

Take a photographic journey along Ireland's Ancient East, the official Bord Failte route, with this sumptuous book of 200 photographs, maps and quotations. Historical sites featured include: Boyne Valley Hill of Tara Rock of Cashel Kilkenny Castle & City Trim Castle Hook Lighthouse Lismore Castle Russborough House Castletown House Powerscourt Gardens

A fascinating look at the lifestyle and values of ancient Ireland Thousands of years ago, Celtic Ireland was a land of tribes and warriors; but a widely accepted, sophisticated and surprisingly enlightened legal system kept society running smoothly. The brehons were the keepers of these laws, which dealt with every aspect of life: land disputes; recompense for theft or violence; marriage and divorce processes; the care of trees and animals. Transmitted orally from ancient times, the laws were transcribed by monks around the fifth century, and what survived was translated by nineteenth-century scholars. Jo Kerrigan has immersed herself in these texts, revealing fascinating details that are inspiring for our world today. With atmospheric photographs by Richard Mills, an accessible introduction to a hidden gem of Irish heritage

In this unique guide to Britain's megalithic culture, rock n' roller Julian Cope provides an inspired fusion of travel, history, poetry, maps, field notes, and pure passion.

Mythical Ireland embodies the search for a soul among Ireland's ancient ruins, and is an attempt to retrieve something of deeper import from 5,000-year-old megalithic monuments and their associated myths. The book represents a fascinating and engaging journey through time, landscape and the human spirit. Dealing with archaeology, interpretive mythography, cosmology and cosmogony, the book attempts to grapple with a core meaning, something beyond the functional interpretations of academia. In this revised and expanded edition, Anthony Murphy delves further into the many enthralling aspects of this journey. Just how much knowledge did locals have of the secrets of Newgrange before it was excavated? Who is the Cailleach, the ancient hag goddess whose image is ubiquitous in the ancient landscape? What happened to make Ireland's Stonehenge disappear from the landscape? Who were the first kings of Tara? What were the indigenous Irish myths about the Milky Way? Did someone try to steal the Tara Brooch? Why are there myths in Ireland about flooded towns and cities? Lavishly illustrated with exquisite photographs of the Irish landscape and ancient monuments, Mythical Ireland represents a personal and yet universal journey, a quest to reimagine the shrines as empowering and transformative sacred places. Murphy invokes the druids and poets of the Boyne and thus the sídhe of the ancient texts are reawakened for a modern and turbulent world.

The spectacular stone circles of western Europe, some nearly 6000 years old, have intrigued viewers through the ages. This beautiful book about these megalithic rings explores their ancestry, methods of construction, and eventual desertion. A substantially revised version of Aubrey Burl's highly praised work The Stone Circles of the British Isles, it offers new insights into the purpose of stone circles. It also provides a new interpretation of Stonehenge and of Callanish in Scotland, the first overview of the cromlechs in Brittany, a discussion of the problems of archaeoastronomy as related to stone circles, a greatly expanded Gazetteer, and an up-to-date list of radiocarbon dates and recent excavations.