Dramatic sky over the Hill of Slane

Took a quick trip up to the Hill of Slane this evening on the way home from the playground with the kids. The clouds were breaking and the sun was trying to come through and it looked like something dramatic would happen in the sky. I caught this lovely scene with billowing dark cumulus clouds hanging over the ruins on the hill about a half an hour before sunset.

Ruins on the Hill of Slane

Add caption

The ruins on the Hill of Slane, illuminated by different types of lighting, in the evening glow after sunset. This is the place where, according to tradition, Saint Patrick lit the Paschal Fire in contravention of the laws of Ireland, and in direct view of the King, Laoghaire, who saw the fire from nearby Tara. In earlier tradition, the Fir Bolg king Sláine was said to have been buried in a mound behind these ruins. It is from this king that the modern village of Slane gets its name.

Orion over Newgrange

This is a photo taken tonight showing the constellation Orion, flanked by Taurus the bull to the upper right and Sirius the dog star to lower left, sitting above Newgrange. I went for another filtered artistic look (created in Photoshop). I like this look because the original photo is very red and orange due to light pollution. It was just starting to cloud over when this photo was taken. I think the cloud helps to enhance the photo, although it does demonstrate just how much the Boyne Valley suffers from light pollution these days. In ancient times Orion was venerated as a god and warrior constellation in many guises. He is seen to control the movements of the sun, moon and planets, which pass through his upraised hand. Also in this image, just above right of the V-shaped head of Taurus, is the bright planet Jupiter, somewhat obscured by cloud.

Mellifont Abbey under the stars

This is an artistic rendering of a photo taken last night at Mellifont Abbey, County Louth, with the assistance of my daughter Amy. This structure is called the lavabo. It was one part of an extensive abbey built by the Cistercian order at Mellifont. It was the Cistercians who came into the ownership of Brug na Bóinne and who gave Newgrange its modern name. In the photo you can see Orion above the lavabo with Sirius to his lower left, Taurus and the Pleiades to the upper right and, just above and right of the bull's head is the bright planet Jupiter.

Brigid's Way Celtic Pilgrimage formally launched

Dolores Whelan, Anthony Murphy and Karen Ward step over a Brigid's
girdle to formally launch the new Brigid's Way pilgrimage in Kildare Heritage Centre.

The new Brigid's Way Celtic Pilgrimage was formally launched in Kildare town, the place most famously associated with her, in an interesting and moving ceremony. The launch was held in the Kildare Heritage Centre.

I spoke about how the alignment was originally discovered, not long after Richard Moore and I began our researches in 1999, and added how its span was later extended when I was working on the second edition of Island of the Setting Sun in 2008. The alignment stretches from St. Brigid's Well in Faughart, the place of her birth, and passes through monuments on Mount Oriel, the Hill of Slane, Realtoge Hill, Hill of Tara and several other prominent sites, before reaching The Curragh in Kildare, another place strongly associated with Brigid.

Dolores Whelan, author of 'Ever Ancient,
Ever New' speaking at the Kildare launch.

Dolores Whelan spoke about how herself and Karen Ward had hooked up and decided to investigate this alignment to see if it could be walked as a pilgrimage route. While on Sally Cox's land in Dundalk, she told them that the original Slí Bhríde, an old pilgrim route from Faughart to Kildare, had passed through her land. They were astonished, because they did not know there had been an original Slí Bhríde.

Karen Ward spoke of some of the synchronicities that had taken place during their investigation of the route, including a link that all three (Dolores, Anthony and Karen) have with shoe shops or shoe factories in Dundalk.

To formally launch the new pilgrim route, all three stepped over a Brigid's crois and ceremonially took the first steps along the new route (photo above).

Dowth and its sycamore tree like you've never seen them!

The huge sycamore tree growing out of the side of Dowth mound is one of its endearing aspects in my opinion. Dowth is now the only one of the three great mounds (Newgrange and Knowth are the others) that has not been "spoiled" by a modern redecoration. One of my favourite aspects of photography is a technique called "painting with light", and I can often be found in the countryside firing flashes and illuminating torches at monuments and other features. Of course, one of the challenges of the techniques used above is that one has to operate the camera - and one also has to illuminate the subject. In the first and second images, the camera fired while I was remote from it, shining a torch up at the tree. Thankfully on this occasion I had the assistance of my good friend, Richard Moore.

A miniature Newgrange in the sand

A couple of photos from the archives. These were taken in summer 2006 at Termonfeckin beach, where me and the kids decided to construct a miniature Newgrange out of stones available at hand. I would have been in the middle of writing 'Island of the Setting Sun' at that time. Can't believe that's nearly seven years ago already . . .