Kells

After all the hiking around Loughcrew, it was time to find a village with a pub.  Fortunately, in Ireland, that's easy to do!  We hopped in the car, successfully maneuvered down the road without having to reverse, and headed to Kells for lunch and more touring.

We parked in the town and found a nice pub connected to the Headfort Arms Hotel, called the Kelltic Pub.  It was full of character!  We sat at the bar, had a nice lunch and tried a new stout from the Bru Brewery of Trim.  The stout was called Bru Dubh and it was delicious!  Now we are planning to schedule a tour of the brewery, which was just opened in 2013.

Steve in front of the St. Vincent de Paul offices in Kells.

I love seeing the medieval towers in these charming towns!

Kells is famous as the monastic village which housed the Book of Kells, though it was not actually written in Kells.  In 807 AD  the Columban monks left Iona in western Scotland because of Viking attacks and moved their monastic headquarters to Kells.  The illustrated copy of the gospels was made about the time they came to Ireland. 

This plaque is on the Churchyard wall and the wall marks the boundary of the original monastery that was rebuilt in 1714.  The picture below represents the monastery grounds around 1000 AD.

The original Church no longer stands.  The west porch of the great stone Church housed the sacred vessels and the Book of Kells.  The Book was stolen in 1007 AD, and was found 2 months later without it's lavish cover.  Below is the symbol of St. John in the Book of Kells.

There were at least 5 High Crosses in Kells.  The oldest one stands beside the Round Tower and is inscribed with words meaning "The Cross of Patrick and Columba"  It is believed this cross was erected shortly after the founding of the monastery.

The Round Tower was built in the 10th century.  It is 90 feet high and has 6 floors.  It has no internal staircase.  It required a ladder to get onto the floors, and each floor has one window.  The raised doorway made the tower stronger and more difficult to attack.  These towers are called "Cloigteach" or bell towers.  They were used for lookouts and for protection from Viking attacks.  There are five windows at the top that allowed them to view all the five ancient roads leading into the town of Kells. 

There are two other high crosses in the graveyard.  Below is a photo of one taken at some time between 1888 and 1914. 

 

Below is my shot of the same High Cross!

And this High Cross is missing many parts...

The original Church was in ruins in 1655 and was used as a horse barracks by Cromwell's army.  The present Church and Spire were built in 1778 in the same spot.

I thought it was neat to see the old photo of the town and the Spire.