The ruins of the northmen. #ireland□ #viking #travel #adventures #picoftheday #instagood #photography #hiking #happiness #amazing #outdoor #sky #magic #kerry #nature Une publication partagée par Jonas Gloria (@aroundtheju) le 5 Avril 2017 à 5h29 PDT

Ross Castle, Killarney
On Ross Island, on the shores of Lough Leane (The Lake of Learning) stands the distinguished Ross Castle.  Built in the late 15th Century, it’s positioning and structure made the castle very effective for defence throughout its long and varied history.
Originally built by O’Donoghue Mor, during the Desmond wars it was handed to the MacCarty Mors who successfully defended against Oliver Cromwell’s army until 1652.  Although the army numbered thousands of soldiers and horses, Ross Castle was proving virtually impenetrable so they chose to take the fortress by boat.  There was believed to be an old Irish prophecy that Ross Castle would only succumb to invasion when a ship swam upon the lake.  Could this prophecy have been instrumental in the surrender of the MacCarty Mor Clan?
Foretold or by advanced military tactics, Ross Castle was taken by force and remained under English control.  It was handed to loyalist Sir Valentine Browne and remained home to the Browne family until the 18th century.  From here it was a military barracks, until decommissioning in 1825.  Now open to the public, for 150 years it was unused – but not abandoned.
There was one keeper lingering, the original owner O’Donoghue.  He is thought to have lain at the bottom of Lough Leane all this time, watching Ross Castle.  On the 1st of May every seven years he mounts his horse and rides the shores of the Lake.  If you seem him, you are said to be assured of good fortune for the rest of your life.


From : http://www.spookyisles.com/2014/05/5-haunted-places-to-visit-in-killarney/

Muckross Abbey, KillarneyThe ruins you see today, the church, cloister and courtyard with a Yew tree standing guard are stately and well preserved, but they do not begin to tell the story of this 15th century home to the Observatine Franciscan Monks of Irrelagh and their centuries long struggle.
Muckross Abbey was founded in around 1448 by Donal McCarthy Mor, after he allegedly had a vision telling him to found the Monastery on a rock of music.  On searching the area around his home, Donal found a place on the shores of Lough Leane where mysterious music was heard with no source.  This is where the foundation stone was laid.
In 1589, the troops of Elizabeth I lay siege to the Abbey, however Father Donagh O’Muirthile and his companions abandoned their residence and absconded.  Before they left, the men gathered all the sacred vessels and church valuables they could carry and hid them on an island within the lake.  They were captured soon after and executed by the Queen’s soldiers.
On 1 May 1698 Penal Laws were passed completely outlawing the practice of Catholicism and all Bishops and supporters were ordered to leave Ireland under threat of execution or imprisonment.  Those that failed to comply or were captured were subjected to the most heinous of deaths. Hanged, ripped apart, mutilated, burned or beheaded and then weighted down and tossed into water or cremated in ovens.  Those that could, hid in the isolation of the Torc and Mangeton Mountains, not to return and minister openly until the late 1700s, however, Muckross Abbey lay abandoned.
The site also contains a graveyard and was the burial place of local chieftains.  Three of Ireland’s great poets of the 17th and 18th century are entombed here and the burial ground remains operational with several interments taking place each year.
Bram Stoker himself has been documented as visiting Muckross Abbey and graveyard and perhaps two of the stories of this location may have inspired him.  A religious hermit named John Drake lived in the deserted Friary for more than a decade in the 18th century.  He had no worldly goods and slept only in a coffin left in the grounds.  There is also the legend of the Brown Man, a newly wed whose bride came looking for him one night, to find her husband knelt over a recently dug up corpse, feasting on its flesh.

still from : http://www.spookyisles.com/2014/05/5-haunted-places-to-visit-in-killarney/

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