The ‘Secrets of Stone’ is a day of talks and discussions all about our geological heritage. It’s going to be a great day, of interest to anyone who’s ever stopped to enjoy the scenery, marvelled at a fossil, or puzzled over a rock, and especially to hillwalkers and climbers. (Saturday, March 24th, Collins Barracks)
Organised by the National Museum, there will be talks on everything from Ireland’s oldest industry (mining), to what’s so important about a load of old rocks. Ingenious Ireland will be there, talking about our geology MP3 walking tour of Dublin.
Tickets cost €15 — and we have two FREE tickets to give to one lucky person. To enter, simply tell us what’s your favourite Irish place or landscape in the comment form below. Closing date March 16, when we’ll pick one lucky winner.
If you like that, you’ll love our geology audio walking tour of Dublin. Listen to an extract, or Buy it now, for just €2.99. It’s packed with more fossils, rocks and geology than any other guided tour of Dublin!
Fri March 16th: And the winner of our competition — drawn from the hat at random by Niamh in @WorldIrish — is www.althinking.com. Thanks to everyone who took part, and dropped by to tell us their favourite Irish place.
The Secrets of Of stone is organised by the National Museum of Ireland, in association with Earth Science Ireland, as part of Dublin City of Science 2012.
The Hill of Tara is my favourite Irish place. I am a regular visitor living in the royal county. It’s a beautiful place with fabulous energies and amazing views and talks in the summer time and such fantastic atmospheres at solstices and ritual gatherings 🙂 blessings
Amanda
Clew Bay Co. Mayo.
A magnificent landscape/seascape with drumlins in the bay and the massive quartzite lump of Croagh Patrick to the south and also out to the west the stunning Clare Island with its mixture of bedrock and glacial sediments
The Botanic Gardens is my favourite place. A haven of peace and tranquility set in a magnificent location, with a superb visitors centre, the fine Palm House and Turner’s truly sublime and inspiring 1849 Curvilinear glass house – so beaufifully restored in 1995 – there is nowhere more special at any time of the year. However, late summer or early autumn is, to my mind, the most special.
The view from the top of Errigal’s quartzite cone, with all of Donegal spread out at your feet and the glitter of water in the far distance on three sides, from Donegal Bay to the south, right around the coast of the county to Lough Swilly in the east.
Has to be the Conor Pass on the Dingle Peninsula. Stunning views no matter what direction you’re looking and a road that seems so impossible you can’t but help marvel at the brave souls who helped to carve it into the landscape all those years ago.
Inisboffin is my favourite place in Ireland. A compact landscape containing a little bit of everything.
There are so many!! Looking out to the Blaskets from Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula and Lough Gur in County Limerick would be the top two.
The Millenium Stone at Delamont County Park, Killyleagh is our favourite place in Ireland the view is astounding it encompasses an AONB ie Strangford Lough. The picture postcard scene stretches from Scrabo Tower in the north to the wonderful mountains of Mourne in the south with the amazing waters and islands of Strangford Lough in between. An area so beautiful it inspired a young man who was born in 1660 in Killyleagh to become a world famous naturalist, collector and physician. His collections later became the nucleus of the British Museum, the British Library and the Natural History Museum in London.
My favourite place is Connemara– all over. .After living in Sweden for twelve years ,I a Goblin man, came to live there at 79 years of age
My favourite place is Lough Boora Parklands near Tullamore. The landscape is beautiful, there’s tracks for walking and biking and the wildlife there is amazing.
Glendalough is my favourite place in Ireland. The sense of calm I experience there is wonderful – even when it’s full of tourists. A close second is Rossbeigh beach in Co. Kerry. I spent most of my summers there as a kid and love going back.
My favourite place in Ireland would have to be Dalkey Island. It is a small outcrop of granite off the coast of Dalkey, Co. Dublin. It can only be reached by boat and only if you know the layout of the rocks beneath the waves.
Dalkey Island has evidence that it was inhabited from the mesolithic (middle stone age) right up to the 19th Century. You can still easily see the small 10th C church of St. Begnet, from a monastery which used to stand until the island was used as a barracks in the early 1800’s. There is also a fresh water spring on the South of the island, this would have been used by all inhabitants of the island. The church now has a chimney which was installed by the builders in 1804 when they lived on the island as they built the Martello Tower and gun battery.
There is a promontory fort on the North end of the island which housed soldiers of the British Admiralty, it is now housing goats that were introduced to the island in the 19th C.
Dalkey island is also home to many rabbits and seals. The shallow shore is often filled with seals basking in the sun or just lying on the rocks and playing in the water. Most recently a trio of dolphins have taken up residence around the island and often come to play in the wake of boats.
Divers often come and dive off the coast of the island and kayakers challenge themselves by paddling around the island.
This is my favourite place as since the soldiers left the island it has been untouched by humans so it is a perfect place to sit and think. You can get completely carried away by the isolation of the island surrounded by the waves and the calling gulls.
Newgrange.
Has to be Newgrange. Newgrange is older than Stonehenge, older than the Pyramids.
5000 years ago our ancestors understood the perennial cycle of the Sun, and they created awesome structures (including but not limited to Newgrange) to take advantage of that knowledge.
Al
And it’s a great use of landscape, and of stone.
The cliff walk from Donabate to Portrane is an excellent place to enjoy geology at first hand.
Good tip! And the rock folds at Loughshinny are amazing!
my favorite place in ireland is croak patrick i first went there wen i was 17 and was fasinated with its beauty i ve never seen anything so beautifull or felt so at peace it really love it
I love the Carrowmore megalithic cemetery, it is not that well-know but it is a fantastic place.
We like Carrowmore too — it’s a fascinating complex, and off the beaten track. Thanks for reminding us about it.
The Quartz Quarry on Achill Island
Thanks for telling us about that — I don’t know it at all, but I’ll have to check it out now
I’m there!
My favourite place is the Stoney beach, Barley Cove, Goleen in West Cork
When staying on the Aran Island Inisheer, we walked out in the late afternoon past a massive wall of limestone that looked as if it were made by men. Inisheer photos
The Burren is my favourite place. The combination of an extraordinary landscape with the sea, the flowers and the light, Fanore strand, the music, the pubs, the archaeology and the history – what a combination!
I’m spoiled living beside the Burren and within driving distance of Connemara. I’m by no means intrepid, but being full of nostalgia, I’ll plump for Diamond Hill in Letterfrack on the basis that it’s always been a memorable trip and climb
And the winner of our competition…. drawn at random from the hat by Niamh in @WorldIrish, is: AlThinking http://www.althinking.com/
Thanks to everyone who took part. And remember our geology walking tour of Dublin — it’s packed with more rocks, fossils and geology than any other Dublin guided tour!
The 12 Bens. Irelands Alps!! Remarkable playground of Stone. From Scrambling to Scree Running Yipee!!!
I love walking over the limestone rock with its north facing cracks presenting a bare faced Burren, and stepping around the blue Gentians flowers, looking for the fly eating flowers, thinking of poetry of the late John O’Donohue and his poetry, and looking over to the blue sea – next stop America.
Connemara – the wonderful mountains, the views from Diamond hill, the lovely sandy beaches and even the bogland scenery.