Welcome to this site about Clonmacnoise.

Before you begin your journey we would like to say why we chose to write about this particular place.

There are many reasons why Clonmacnoise is a very important place. It was once a major city and place of learning. It's buildings span a time period of 800 years and still remain a place of pilgrimage. It's common faith heritage makes it a place of unity for Christians.

However we did not choose it for these reasons. We chose it because, walking around the small area it occupies, you can trace all of Ireland's lenghty and often turbulent history. Looking around you can see the story of Ireland unfurling from the Ice Age right up to a new nation's efforts to safeguard it's cultural identity.

Clonmacnoise is a place where the fingerprints of all those involved in Ireland's past can be seen. It is a doorway to our history.