Customer Reviews

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

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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!

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.

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!

This book is a fantastic piece of research. It is by far the best guide to the sacred sites of Ireland that has been published for many decades. The author Cary Meehan has taken a sensitive approach, bringing together the various strands of history, mythology, folklore and sarced tradition. Not only is the guide a comprehensive account of sites throughtout Ireland, it is a remarkable archive of images and up to date accounts of each individual place. There are excellent introductory chapters that set the scene of human history on the island of Ireland and concise accounts of the origins of the sub-division of the country into the four provinces. Although many of the sites have been previously recorded this guide is one of the most accessible accounts of a remarkably rich heritage of places of spirit and magic. This book is an important contribution to the understanding of the cultural/sacred landscape of Ireland.

Meehan's book is extremely rich in historical, architecture, legend, story and geographical detail. Some of the sites she writes about were unknown to anyone but locals prior to her writing. The rich diversity of sacred sites, from neolithic to pre-Christian through to the Christian; sacred wells, the vastness of Knowth and Newgrange, stone circles, stone cairns, sacred hills, etc. The black and white photography is beautiful, capturing the magic of these sites. The organisation of the book, by province (different colours for each) and then by county allows for quick reference when travelling. The detailed directions allows even those of us who get lost easily to find sites hidden in some field far off the road. A must to meet the richness and history of the sacred on this island.

This is an excellent long overdue guide to sacred sites in Ireland. Background information is very accurate and coherent.It's much more than a guide book, as it includes history , myth and some archaeological information, as well as personal reflections on the "vibes" from different spots. Fascinating reading for anyone who has even a remote interest in Irish culture.Well worth the money. Look forward to more books by the same author.

This book allowed us to discover places that we never would have found using a regular guidebook. Our visit to the Clonakilty stone circle was completely memorable, leading us to an out-of-the-way village where we spent several hours as the guests of a local couple in the pub. The large quartz stones sat quietly among the mist and rain, surrounded by a cornfield as horses whinnied across the road. We would have spent more time among them had the day been more fair. It was obvious that tourists never visit this place and we had an authentic experience with beautiful people who were very open and generous.

The author's knowledge of local tradition and Celtic myth was also confirmed when we stopped in a pub near Lough Gur. The crusty old gentleman at the bar warned my husband not to "go swimmin' or he'll be taken to the bottom of the Lough for seven years by a woman who lives in the water."

I am truly grateful for Cary Meehan's careful research and accurate directions to these ancient places. It allowed us to have a trip that many people could not imagine filled with magic, local flavor and a taste of the real Ireland.

This book is humongous and very heavy (even in its paperback format). The photos are in black and white, which was disappointing, and there's no mention of the sites in the biggest cities because that stuff is apparently common knowledge (not). Overall, it's a pretty good book to help you research a trip in advance, but you will definitely need to leave it at home.