The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland: A Guide to the Sacred Places of Ireland, Her Legends, Folklore and People [Paperback]

Cary Meehan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

This amazing book is the result of years of research of historical and archeological detail, legend and folklore, and current information on earth energies for each sacred site. Before the author's rediscoveries, most of the vast number of ancient sites were unknown or almost forgotten except by locals. Features: *Simple wells and stones *Local pilgrimage spots *Holy mountains, lakes and rivers *Sites created by the Auld Giants *Pre-Celtic Temples *Ancient churches and round towers

Product Details

• Paperback: 712 pages
• Publisher: Gothic Image Publications (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0906362431
• ISBN-13: 978-0906362433
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 4.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #357,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent field guide to Ireland's sacred sites, October 8, 2003

By 

Kevin M. Roddy (Honolulu, Hawaii United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland: A Guide to the Sacred Places of Ireland, Her Legends, Folklore and People (Paperback)

I was driving in rural Ireland in late September 2003 and was very interested in locating sites sacred to pre-Christian people. The Insight Guide to Ireland had a few mentions of sites of interest. However, to my luck that I discovered this book (the last copy) in a small bookstore in Westport, County Mayo.

What a find! The book was *exactly* what I was looking for, and was most fortunate that I discovered it early on, as I was going to spend at least one more week in the country.

The author's attention to historical detail as well as her fine directions to finding the sites are most noteworthy. What I also liked was her bias-free and academic approach to the subject. Christians, as well as Pagans like myself, will find the book a treasure trove of information. Other reviewers have extolled the book's other virtues, so I will go no further, except to say--if you're interested in Ireland's prehistory, folklore and legends, this book is a must have. [I paid thirty Euros (approximately $35) and Amazon sells it for half that price! But I would pay 35 Euros again if I had to--it's THAT good.]

I hope you will be as fortunate as I was to be actually in a car with this excellent reference in your lap, deciding which of the many holy wells, towers, stone circles, castles, cairns, fairy trees, fairy mounds, and other places that you'll visit next!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful information well done!, September 9, 2005

By 

Dale Overman (Salt Lake City, Ut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland: A Guide to the Sacred Places of Ireland, Her Legends, Folklore and People (Paperback)

I'm planning my third trip to Ireland this October. In the past I have bought two other guide books to help me see the sights. They were okay but missed many of the old "pagan" prechristian sights of intrest. This book takes you the the Hill of Tara and Hill of Uisneach for the druidic fires of Beltane and Samhain. It tells you about the history of Ireland and her people from the stone age till the last century. And takes you to many,many, standing stones and sared sites allover Ireland. If you follow the druid path or have a deep intrest in ancient Ireland this is your tour book.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Sites; Directions Need Improvement, April 5, 2003

By 

Amy Cook (North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland: A Guide to the Sacred Places of Ireland, Her Legends, Folklore and People (Paperback)

Meehan does a wonderful job of documenting and suggesting sites to visit. The ones we visited (that we could find) were great! However, the sites which aren't 'signed' (ie. listed as having signs pointing to it from the main road) are diffcult to find. Even some of the sites that are 'signed' aren't signed well, or consistently. Sometimes you'll have to guess at a cross roads, and if you don't get to the site, you'll have to backtrack and take the other. The problem we had most often is that the directions say to take a dirt road for about 1/2 mile (bring your metric conversion charts since they use kilometers in Ireland) and walk across a pasture at a cow gate. Sounds like an easy thing, until you get to Ireland and realize there are 25 cow gates on that particular road. We also found an error on a road number, which would have put us at least 30 miles in the wrong direction.
My suggestion--get this book! It really is a great one to have to plan your visit. But also get an Ordinance map, and plan on asking directions once you get to the nearest village. In addition to getting correct and more detailed directions, you may also be told about other sites not mentioned in the book! Some of the coolest places we went were suggested to us by locals!