Scenic Place in County Waterford

The High Crosses at Ahenny in County Tipperary are among the earliest and most beautifully carved of the Irish high crosses, two eighth-century stone crosses of exceptional quality whose elaborate interlaced ornament and geometric carving represent the fully developed art of the Irish monastic tradition at its most refined. The crosses stand in the quiet graveyard of Kilclispeen, a remote rural site whose peacefulness and isolation add to the contemplative quality of an encounter with some of the finest sculpture produced in medieval Ireland. The Ahenny crosses are distinguished by their almost entirely abstract ornamental carving, covering every surface of the cross heads and shafts with interlaced knotwork, spiral and geometric patterns of extraordinary sophistication. This decorative style, closely related to the manuscript illumination tradition of the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels, represents the visual language of early medieval Irish Christianity expressed in monumental stone rather than vellum. The quality of the carving, which shows no sign of the tentative early experiments visible in simpler crosses, suggests that this tradition was already mature when the Ahenny crosses were carved. The bases of the crosses carry figural panels depicting biblical and other scenes whose iconographic interpretation remains a subject of scholarly debate, and the combination of the abstract ornamental carving with these narrative panels creates a sculptural programme of considerable intellectual complexity. The site is freely accessible and the rural character of the surrounding Tipperary countryside provides a setting of great charm.

The Copper Coast is a UNESCO Global Geopark on the south Waterford coast between Tramore and Dungarvan, a stretch of Atlantic coastline whose extraordinary geological variety, including the copper and other mineral deposits that gave the coast its name and the remarkable variety of volcanic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks exposed in the cliffs, distinguishes it as one of only a handful of recognised geoparks in Ireland. The copper mining that operated extensively here during the nineteenth century, employing thousands of workers at its peak, has left a landscape of engine houses, spoil heaps and mining structures that provide the most visible heritage dimension of the coast. The Copper Coast Drive connects these industrial heritage features with the natural scenery and the village communities of Bunmahon and Stradbally in a route of considerable variety. The Waterford Greenway, a 46-kilometre traffic-free cycling and walking trail following a disused railway line from Waterford city to Dungarvan, traverses the coastal landscape of the geopark and provides one of the finest greenway experiences in Ireland. The combination of the geology, the mining heritage, the coastal scenery and the Greenway makes the Copper Coast one of the most varied and most rewarding coastal destinations in the southeast.