Bricks and stones
By Malcolm Rogers
Malcolm Rogers looks at what’s on offer for the visitor looking to experience some of Ireland’s heritage.
Irish Linen Centre, Lisburn, Co. Antrim
It’s astonishing to think that Belfast and its environs were once home to the world’s greatest manufacturers of rope, steel, ships — and of course linen. Almost all gone now, but at the Irish Linen Centre you can at least still see linen being made. The museum contains some machines which have a Heath Robinson type beauty themselves, as well as audio visuals which evoke a not-quite-so beautiful era: the Victorian times of child labour and hard graft in the linen mills.
Open Mon-Sat, 9.30am-5pm. Tel: 028 9266 3377.
Glengowla Silver Lead Mines, Galway
Ireland’s only Irish mine with shafts and tunnels open to the public. Glengowla heritage and visitor centre is located just two miles from Oughterard on the Clifden road (N59). You can see the workings of this abandoned mine with an underground trip to view the large marble chamber and mineral studded caverns.
Tel: 00 353 91 552360.
The GAA Museum, Croke Park, Dublin
The museum is part of the hallowed Croke Park, a stadium which has the fourth largest capacity in Europe (85,000) after Barcelona’s Nou Camp, Real Madrid’s Bernabeu and the San Siro in Milan. The importance of the GAA in the history of Ireland’s struggle for independence is highlighted in the audio-visual presentation National Awakening, which relates the events of last century’s first Bloody Sunday in 1920. The museum also has a comprehensive range of exhibits related to the development of the Gaelic sports — hurling, football, camogie, handball and road bowling, and a photo gallery depicting the great Gaelic names of the past.
Tel: 00 353 1 855 8176.
The Natural History Museum, Merrion Street, Dublin
The Natural History Museum is renowned as one of the last great Victorian cabinet museums, with exhibits packed onto every square inch of floor and wall space, and not a sign of hi-tech multi-media interaction in sight. Here you will find the most complete museum experience possible. No description could prepare you for the treasure trove of zoological exhibits which awaits inside. All the familiar Irish animals are present and correct — the Irish hare, the red fox, and the Irish jay, along with rarities such as the pine marten and otter.
Admission is free. Tel: 00 353 1 677 7444.
The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, Co. Down
This museum ranks among Ireland’s foremost visitor attractions, recapturing a disappearing way of life, preserving traditional skills and celebrating transport history. The Folk Museum invites you to visit a typical Ulster town of the early 1900s and to stroll through yesteryear’s countryside with its farms, cottages, crops and livestock. The Transport Museum presents Ireland’s most comprehensive transport collection and includes the award-winning Irish Railway Collection and road transport galleries and also Titanic and Flight Experience exhibitions. Tel: 028 904 28428.
Waterford Treasure, Merchants Quay, Waterford
 Housed in a converted warehouse known as The Granary, this amazing collection of artefacts reflects the fact that Waterford is Ireland’s oldest city. The exhibits include the Catholic bishop’s cape in cloth-of-gold, royal charters and numerous archaeological samples from Waterford’s chequered history.
Tel: 00 353 51 304 5000.
Beautiful Buildings Casino Marino, Dublin 3
Designed for Lord Charlemont by Sir William Chambers, this neo-classical masterpiece in north Dublin is a beautifully designed house.
The casino has nothing to do with gambling, by the way. It’s the Italian diminutive for ‘casa’ or house. The renaissance splendour of the place still shines through.
In fact it’s a pity that the chap it was built for, Lord C, never actually set foot in Ireland.
Tel: 00 353 1 8331618.
Church of St Aengus, Burt, Co. Donegal
This masterpiece by the late Liam McCormick is the finest modern church in Ireland. Its circular stone-walled exterior was inspired by the pre-Christian Grianán Aileach nearby.
Inside, a wonderful mixture of light and ornamentation above the altar gives a beautiful, serene atmosphere to the entire building.
The Burren Heritage Centre, Creggan, Co. Tyrone
Anyone thinking of designing a heritage centre should be immediately marched to the Creggan and made to see how it’s done properly. Set in an area of great historical importance — there are some 44 standing stones within a five mile radius — the building itself combines indigenous stone with traditional building styles — although a contemporary touch is present throughout.
Céide Fields Visitor Centre, near Ballycastle, Co. Mayo
This extremely appealing visitor’s centre houses exhibits dating back to our farming ancestors of Neolithic times. The building itself won an RIAI gold medal for its architect Mary MacKenna.
The striking deconstructed pyramid, rising above dramatic cliffs, gives the centre a resonance with the Stone Age fields surrounding.
Tel: 00 353 96 43325.
Observation Tower, Smithfield Village, Dublin
 The glass pod atop the old Jameson Distillery chimney has inevitably become known as ‘the flue with a view’.
Since Nelson departed his column somewhat suddenly in 1966, this vantage point has the best view in Dublin. From the top you can see as far north as Howth Head, and as far south as Killiney Beach.
Tel: 00 353 1 817 3820.
Waterfront Hall, Belfast
 This sleek building on the banks of the Lagan, overlooking the Harland and Wolff shipyards where the Titanic was built, presents concerts, theatre — or just an exceptionally good cup of coffee. It’s reminiscent of some of the buildings making up the South Bank in London, but with Belfast Lough added.
Designed by Robinson MacIlwaine, this circular building is the match of anything in Europe.
The Leaning Tower of Tagoat
Not quite as famous as the one in Pisa, but worth a visit nonetheless. The tower in question is part of the remains of a Norman castle on Lady’s Island, on the Wexford coast.
Not far from Carnsore Point of Met Éireann fame (whose weather station’s findings are read out every day on RTÉ), Lady’s Island has no such publicity machine working for it.
So you’re guaranteed a peaceful, tranquil day by the lagoons of Ireland’s most south easterly point.
A stone’s throw
 Newgrange Passage Tomb, Co. Meath
Brú na Bóinne is quite simply one of the finest structures in Europe, and one of the oldest buildings in the world.
These passage tombs, approximately 5,000 years old, are probably the oldest man-made structures still surviving. At the winter solstice, December 21, the main passage tomb is strikingly lit up for 17 minutes by the rising sun. A visit to this place leaves you wondering about our ancient ancestors and their subtle aptitude for engineering, incorporating art, science and spirituality.
Stonehenge, southern England
Built in approximately 1800BC, more than a thousand years after Newgrange had been built, it’s exact purpose is unknown, but there are persistent, although unfounded, theories that some of the rocks used in the construction originated in the area of Naas in Co. Kildare.
Creggandeveskey Court tomb, Co. Tyrone
This is a beautifully situated court tomb, quite difficult to reach by foot, but worth every footstep of the way. Nearby is a well preserved mass-stone from a much later period when Irish people were prevented by the penal code of openly practising their religion.
The Poulnabrone Portal dolmen, Co. Clare
 This is what is known in archaeological circles, indeed stone circles, as a single-chambered megalithic tomb. These gaunt stone structures occur in many parts of Ireland, but this one has a truly spectacular setting on the Burren.
Creevykeel Court Grave. CO. sligo
Co. Sligo boasts many prehistoric monuments, including Carrowmore, which reveals evidence of building perhaps as long as 6,000 years ago. This is one of the most atmospheric sites imaginable, with the wide sweep of Donegal Bay before it. | 