Thomas Walford

“ In the western part of the county also, on the banks of the Barrow, the rugged mountainous range is beautifully fringed with timber, even to the summits of some of its loftiest hills, agreeably chequered by cultivation, and studded with the mansions of opulence, whose snow-white chimneys peeping through the foliage give earnest of the national hospitality that reigns amongst them. Indeed all writers agree, that some of the most beautiful and picturesque scenery in Ireland is to be met with in this division of the county and around the town of Carlow. ”

“ Carlingford Bay being so landlocked and surrounded by mountains as to resemble a large lake; and the tourist, passing through an irregular grove of tall and aged ash trees, with the sea and whitened houses glimmering between them, finds here a truly rural village retirement, commanding within its immediate vicinity more beauty than the generality of sea places; a dry soil, shady walks, diversified rides, and good bathing. ”

“ Here are 200 acres of wood, water, rocks, and lawns highly dressed, in which the bold ruggedness of nature has been softened by the hand of culture so happily, as not to fritter away the characteristic grandeur of the original; whilst each romantic eminence presents a varied and extensive prospect of mountain, vale, and wood of this beautiful county, at intervals contrasted with the sublime and expansive line of the ocean. ”

“ The windows, especially the east one, are light and elegant: the arcades are open and airy; and the towers spring up with an airy elegance that seizes at once upon the traveller's attention. The Abbey of St. Francis, with its square Tower springing from a lofty Gothic arch, is worthy the tourist's notice, though much disfigured in its interior by the squalid cabins of poverty and idleness, and by part of its precincts being turned into a horse barrack. The great altar is a marble slab of amazing size ”

“ W. of Enniskillen, is a pretty village, with a very fine waterfall: ascend a hill with a battery on its top, from whence is seen a woody eminence with an insulated rock covered with shrubs, along which the stream passes with great rapidity, falling about twenty feet, and forming a most enchanting prospect. See it also from the bridge. It stands at the outlet of the lake, close to the verge of Donnegal. See Castle Caldwell on the northern shore, seated amidst promontories of thick wood that shoot into Lough Erne, with every variety of wood and lawn and water that can delight the eye. ”

“ The bridge itself is a pleasing object in the landscape, being a modern erection of three elliptical arches over the Avonmore, covered to a great extent with an oak coppice on one side and the huge Broccagh on the other, which here confines the view up the valley, at the end of which the great Round Tower and other ruins appear to great advantage, whilst a remarkably smooth and high mountain forms a most singular and agreeable back-ground. ”

“ About a mile westward, on the summit of a hill, seen for several miles along the great north road, and commanding a most extensive prospect of the Mourne and Carlingford mountains, are some remains of a fine old Danish station and rath; a little below which, the tourist will notice the ruins of an old Ch. or Chapel, enveloped in ivy, and pointing out a Catholic cemetery of great sanctity. On the side of the hill stands the Castle of Castletown, an ancient edifice with towers and battlements, but partly repaired and habitable, forming the offices to a more modern mansion close to it. ”

“ S.W. of Dublin.—The Castle is an interesting object to the inquisitive tourist, originally begun in the 12th century by Strongbow, and completed by William de Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke. Great part of the ancient edifice has survived the various convulsions of civil anarchy, now repaired and beautified so as to form a conspicuous ornament to the city, on a rising ground, with a rapid descent to the Nore, and on the other sides fortified by walls and towers, the Gothic grandeur of whose remains is disfigured in the eye of taste, by a lofty marble entrance gate of the Corinthian order. ”

“ Wakefield observes, that although destitute of lake or river, yet the magnificent prospect of mountain rising above mountain, until they fade in the distance, presents quite an alpine view, the distant hills clad with woody scenery, and the foreground well filled up with thriving plantations, verdant lawns, and other modern improvements. There is a very pleasant pedestrian ramble to the Devil's Glen. On the right appears the sea at some distance, extending from Wicklow-head to another headland: beneath the observer's eye is the glen with a mountain stream running along its bosom ”

“ This county offers to the tourist a complete epitome of the whole Island. In the northern district are many bogs, yet in various points the most beautiful scenery opens to the view, presenting numerous villages with highly ornamented mansions and villas scattered around; except in some few spots, trees indeed are wanting; and extensive salt marshes spread towards the coast. S. of the Liffey there is very little tillage, but to the picturesque eye this is amply compensated by the wild uncultivated heaths, rocky mountains, winding glens, and sombre landscapes that extend on every side. ”

“ The compass ceiling is adorned with fretwork, and has many modillions, and in the centre a group of foliage, festoons, and cherubim. In the nave and aisles are many beautiful sepulchral Monuments. It is the Cathedral of the see of Ossory; and close to it is a very curious Round Tower. The Dominican or Black Abbey, an extensive ruin, with the elegant ramifications of some of its Gothic windows in pretty good preservation, stands low, and is surrounded by squalid huts, which disfigure its outside and take off much of the sombre effect of its venerable walls. ”

“ Its great extent of sea coast affords every variety in science and the picturesque; mountains wild, covered with heath and bog, or frowning in abrupt and rugged cliffs; towards Lough Neagh all the mild beauties of cultivation: the vale of the Lagan, between Belfast and Lisburn, cannot be surpassed for beauty, cultivation, elegant villas, bleach-greens, and comfortable cottages, with all the varieties of hill, dale, wood, and water, by any tract of equal extent in the empire. ”

“ Their habitations are well-built, display great neatness, and are all whitewashed. The whole tract is embellished with plantations; and, whether owing to the wealth created by the linen manufacture, or the trade carried on at Belfast and Newry, every thing exhibits evident signs of increased population and industry. The banks of the rivers Bann and Lagan are covered with bleach-fields, and present that cheerful and pleasing scenery which characterizes a manufacturing country, and excites in the mind an idea of improved civilization. ”

“ Over a dark and rugged base fringed with incessant foam it lifts its sides adorned with various tints of green gray lichen, and vermilion rock, with a rapid declivity to about half its elevation, and thence becomes perpendicular. On a stratum of red ochre at the elevation of 200 feet, stands a magnificent gallery of basaltic columns, 44 feet in height, with others equally romantic; like a theatre of Nature harmoniously arranged, rock upon rock, gallery upon gallery, so magnificent, so solitary, and facing the wide Atlantic, as if formed for the temple of "spirits from the vasty deep!" ”

“ The ruins are yet in pretty good preservation, with beautiful Gothic cloisters, ornamented with escutcheons of arms. The edifice, being of limestone, has a curious yet venerable appearance. See the picturesque ruins of an ancient Castle, once the residence of the potent Earls of Desmond, and often the scene of hostile conflict during the early times, being often besieged and taken by the contending parties. There are vestiges of several other religious edifices; but the town itself is little more than a cluster of cabins, through which the tourist passes in his way to Killarney. ”

“ Plainness and convenience seem to have been attended to on its erection, more than elegance, though handsome and substantial; the front and rear composed with breaks and ornamented with corner stone work; and the whole forming a good object at the end of a magnificent avenue. The visitor will be shown a bed which stood in the old mansion, in which it is said, by tradition, that both King William and King James slept in the course of the year 1690. The demesne is very extensive, and has the singularity of being in five counties, Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow, Queen's, and Dublin ”

“ The Abbey of Aghamacart lies to the S. about 6 m. from Aghaboe, once very extensive, and now in ruins. At a distance nothing appears but the gloomy belfry; but the visitor soon arrives at an arch of good workmanship which opens into the body of the ruins, or rather into the remains of the chapel. There is, indeed, little to attract attention, were it not for a legendary tale, of a monk whose affection for a lovely nun was met with such reciprocity on the part of the lady, that gossip scandal would soon have spread her thousand wings. ”

“ Castle Connor, near to it, has curious caves, lined and roofed with great stones, on a hill, as yet scarcely noticed by the antiquary. Close to the sea stand the remains of the ancient Castle of Roslee, sombre and solitary. Little more now exists than one lofty tower, in the thickness of whose walls is a curious staircase leading to the gloomy apartments within. The Castle was originally of considerable extent, and near it runs a rivulet, traditionally said to have once been fitted with a weir for the purpose of catching salmon ”

“ In stormy weather the waves break so short and dash with such violence against the shoals at the foot of Shane's Castle, that the spray is said often to have dashed into the highest windows. In consequence of this, shipwrecks of the craft are not unfrequent.
Pleaskin.—A Cape a little to the E. of Giant's Causeway; the most striking of all the semicircular precipices on this range of coast, in the opinion of Dr. Drummond and the ingenious but unfortunate Dr. Hamilton. In the sixteen different strata of which it is composed, beauty and sublimity are wonderfully blended and harmonised. ”

“ Enough remains to gratify the lover of ancient architecture, in its pointed gables, Gothic windows, and lofty tower 60 feet in height, and in its solemn cloisters which may still be traced. New-Pass, not far distant, is a pleasant mansion with good lake scenery. See Tyril's-Pass, a neat village with ancient Castle ruins. ”

“ Innismurry is an island of the north coast, with curious subterraneous cells: also interesting to the sportsman. Lough Gilly abounding with romantic scenery; about 5 m. long, and 2 broad. Its greatest charm is Hazelwood, the beautiful seat of Mr. Wynn, at the end of a wooded peninsula which runs out into the water, and is seen to most advantage from the lake. On the opposite side of the lake, contrasting finely with the lawns and artificial arrangements of Hazelwood, is seen a range of rude mountains, partially planted and cultivated; beyond which is another range in fine retiring distance. ”

“ N.E. of Ballycastle.—Is a most interesting object, towering magnificently with its massive columns of basaltes, forming a line of coast the most fantastically beautiful that imagination can conceive. It is strongly characterized by the savage wildness of its cliffs, at whose foot the ocean rages with uncommon fury. Scarce a single mark of vegetation has yet crept over the hard rock to diversify its colour, but one uniform grayness pervades its scenery, contrasting exquisitely with Bengore, about 9 m. ”

“ A short distance from Navan, close to the village of Donoghmore, and standing on an eminence near the road leading to Slieve, is a round tower adorned with sculptures of the Crucifixion over the doorway. It is not in very good preservation; and the ancient Ch. attached to it is totally in ruins. Dunmore Castle is a building of very early date, but almost new built as a castellated house at the close of the 17th century, and now presenting a curious specimen of those turbulent times in its lofty towers and heavy walls, diversified only by a few windows close to the battlements. ”

“ Is an inland county; the northern part bordering on Lough Neagh, consists of most extensive bogs of extraordinary depth and a remarkably black soil, and thereby affords no scenery worth attention. But in the immediate vicinity of the city of Armagh, the tourist is gratified by a richer prospect, where an abundant population finds employment in well inclosed and well cultivated fields. To the southward the appearance deteriorates, especially in that part called the Fews; a district of dark black mountains, where the hand of industry or the eye of taste has scarcely yet penetrated. ”

“ An excursion to this favoured spot combines within its arrangements the several beauties of the Scalp, the Sugar-Loaf Mountains, and the Dargle: the tourist may therefore bring them all within one day's visit, if time is short, or visit them in detail after a general view. The best method is to proceed from Dublin to Altadore, after which the road for a few miles leads over mountain scenery of a pleasing character until it approaches the head of a wide extended glen, with the ocean in front and the domain of Powerscourt covered with plantations and tillage ”