Top Things to Do in Westmeath, Republic of Ireland

Fore Abbey in County Westmeath is one of the most atmospheric and most completely preserved medieval monastic sites in the Irish Midlands, a Benedictine priory of the thirteenth century set in a wooded valley below the Fore Hills whose combination of the substantial surviving church, chapter house and anchorite's cell, the tranquil lakeside setting and the extraordinary series of seven wonders associated with the site creates one of the most rewarding monastic heritage visits in the midland counties. The Seven Wonders of Fore are a medieval tradition of improbable natural or miraculous features associated with the monastery. The monastery was founded as a Benedictine house in the thirteenth century on the site of an early Christian church traditionally attributed to St Feichin in the seventh century, and the current buildings represent the principal period of Benedictine occupation from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The church, the chapter house, the cloister foundations and the refectory are all identifiable in the substantial ruins that survive above the valley floor in unusually good condition for a midland Irish monastery. The Seven Wonders of Fore, which include water that won't boil, a mill without a millrace and a tree that won't burn, reflect the medieval tradition of associating monastic sites with miraculous phenomena that demonstrated divine favour. The anchorite's cell in the tower above the valley, where the last occupant is said to have been walled in voluntarily, provides the most dramatically human connection to the monastic tradition of this unusual and rewarding site.

Downpatrick Head on the north Mayo coast near Ballycastle is one of the most dramatic coastal headlands in Ireland, a flat-topped promontory of horizontal limestone dropping vertically to the sea in cliffs of considerable height, with the extraordinary detached sea stack of Dún Briste standing immediately offshore in a position that makes it one of the most dramatic natural features on the Wild Atlantic Way. The stack, approximately 45 metres high and completely separated from the headland by the collapse of the connecting rock arch in 1393, supports a green summit of grass visible from the clifftop above in a scene of extraordinary geological drama. The name Downpatrick Head derives from the association with St Patrick, who is said to have banished a pagan chieftain called Crom Dubh from the headland by causing the earth to open and swallow him. The blowhole in the headland floor, through which the sea surges in rough weather with considerable noise and spray, is associated in local tradition with the swallowed pagan below. The remains of a Napoleonic-era signal tower on the headland provide the historical military heritage dimension. The coastal scenery of the north Mayo coast visible from Downpatrick Head in both directions is among the finest in Ireland, the horizontal limestone cliffs extending westward toward the Belmullet Peninsula and the great mountain of Nephin Beg visible in the distance on clear days creating a panorama of the wild and empty north Mayo landscape that is one of the most powerful available on the Wild Atlantic Way.

White Island on Lough Erne in County Fermanagh is the site of a ruined early medieval church containing one of the most remarkable and most enigmatic collections of carved stone figures in Ireland, seven carved stone figures of the eighth and ninth centuries whose meaning and function have been debated by scholars since they were incorporated into the wall of the ruined church in the nineteenth century. The figures, ranging from approximately half a metre to one metre in height, represent a mixture of clearly Christian subjects and others of more ambiguous or apparently pagan character, making White Island one of the most intellectually interesting early medieval sites in Ireland. The island is accessible by ferry from Castle Archdale Marina on the eastern shore of Lower Lough Erne, and the combination of the boat crossing, the island setting and the concentrated strangeness of the carved figures makes White Island one of the most distinctive heritage experiences in Ulster. The figures are set in a row along the interior wall of the ruined church, their variety of expression and subject matter creating an immediate impression of visual and intellectual complexity. The carved figures include a sheela-na-gig, the exhibitionist female figure found widely in Irish and British medieval churches and whose meaning continues to generate scholarly debate, alongside figures that appear to represent ecclesiastical subjects. The combination of these different figure types in a single architectural context has generated numerous interpretations, none of which has achieved general acceptance. The wider Lough Erne landscape of Fermanagh, with its extraordinary concentration of early medieval monuments and the beautiful lake scenery, provides one of the most rewarding heritage landscapes in Northern Ireland.