A Field Trip to Clonmacnois
Monastery.
Clonown N.S.23/2/00
We went on a trip to Clonmacnois.It is just across
the river from our school but we had to go to Shannonbridge to cross the
Shannon and get to Clonmacnois. It was a misty day but when we arrived there we
went into a small theatre to watch a film.
We
learned a lot from the film. We learned that Clonmacnois grew up at a
crossroads of the Shannon and Esker Riada. Eskers were formed in the last Ice
Age. When the ice melted a pile of gravel and stones was left and people found
it easier to travel along this esker as it went through the bog and made a good
road.
People crossed the Shannon at Clonmacnois to go to Tara the seat of the
High King. Munster men left their boats at Clonmacnois when they were going to
Tara. In the last few years archaeological divers found a bridge under the
water at Clonmacnois. We found out that the monastery was a busy place. Two
thousand people lived there at one time.
Clonmacnois was the greatest school
in Europe, a center for Art, litrature and learning. The monastry was 10 acres
in area. Vikings, Normans and the Irish put it on fire 15 times. The Normans
raided it 6 times, the Vikings raided it 8 times and the Irish raided it an
incredible 27 times. Each time it was rebuilt.
In 1552 the English garrison from Athlone raised it
to the ground. Everything was carried off. It remained a burial ground. It
remained a place of pilgrimage. People go there to an open-air mass on St.
Ciarans Feast Day in September. We go too but this was our first time inside
the visitor’s center.
Our guide came. Her
name was Joy and she brought us on a tour. First we went to see the cross Of
the Scriptures. It is probably the most well known cross in Clonmacnois. On
this cross there are scenes from the life of Jesus and scenes from the life of
Saint Kieran who founded the monastery in 548.
The Southern Cross has a lot of Celtic design on it
and circles called bosses.
The North Shield is shaped like a stake. This
is the oldest of the three monuments. It has no top. It has got interwined
animals and some more Celtic design.
Duchas realized that the rain and weather
were wearing the crosses so they decided to move the crosses. This was a huge
job as the crosses are 12 feet high. They got a crane and lifted the crosses
into place. I would not like that job in case they fell. When the crosses were
in place they built three modern huts made of stone around them.
Then they thought
people would still like to see the crosses outside so they built replicas of
the crosses and put them outside. The first cross they made was carved by a
sculptor and was not exact enough so they decided to make moulds and make new
crosses from a mixture of sandstone and resin. The new crosses look just like
the old ones .In the picture you can see Martin and Stephen beside the Cross of
the Scriptures replica and behind them you can see the new modern huts where
the old crosses are on display.
