Irish Pedestrians & Kylemore Abbey

We left Athlone and drove through the Connemara Mountains to tour Kylemore Abbey. The scenic drive to the Abbey was beautiful, even with the rain and the clouds. We passed a lot of sheep along the way, most were just hanging out in the fields but a few were trying to visit their friends in the next pasture over. The Abbey sits on a lough (lake) and it was difficult to tell if it was actually raining or if the strong winds was blowing that much lough water on us. We thought we had a break in the weather when we arrived so we walked to the walled Victorian Gardens. The garden includes a formal flower garden, vegtable garden, fruit trees, a rockery and herb garden; displaying only plants from the Victorian era.

The rain began to pick up so we headed to the Abbey. The Abbey was originally Kylemore Castle, built in 1868, as a family home to the Henry family. In 1920, the Irish Benedictine Nuns purchased the Abbey castle and lands after they were forced to flee Belgium during World War I. The nuns ran an all-girl boarding school and a day school for locals for almost a century until it was forced to close in 2010. The Abbey has a partnership with the University of Notre Dame and hosts academic programs for ND students.

Our last stop was at the neo-Gothic Church that was built in 1877 in honor of Margaret Henry. The neo-Gothic architecture replaced the typical gargoyles of gothic structures with delicate flower, bird and angel features. The inside of the Church was beatiful, with the stained glass, detailed carvings and marble pillars. The color of the marble represented each of the four marble regions of Ireland; green from Connemara, black from Kilkenney, red from Cork and white from Tyrone.

Perched about three quarters up the mountain behind the Abbey, there's what appears to be a white speck. That white speck is the Sacred Heart statue. The statue was erected by the Benedictine nuns in 1932 to give thanks for their safe arrival during WWI.Read more