Kells

The monastery founded by monks fleeing Iona after the Viking raids, and the place that gave its name to the Book of Kells — probably begun on Iona and finished here. The book left in 1654 for safekeeping in Dublin and never came back; the town has five high crosses and a round tower instead.

Kells stood on one of the five ancient roads from Tara, and before it was a monastery it is said to have been a royal seat. Around 560 the High King Diarmait granted the fort of Ceannanus to Colmcille to found a monastery, and the monastery that survives is thought to date from about 804, when monks from Iona came here fleeing the Vikings. The Synod of Kells in 1152 finished turning Colmcille's foundation into a diocesan church.

Under the Normans Hugh de Lacy took Meath and the churches at Kells continued to flourish. The town became a garrison on the edge of the Pale, fought over between the Normans and the kingdom of Bréifne, and sent two members to the Irish parliament from 1561 to 1801. The O'Reillys burned Kells in 1641. The Famine cut its population by 38% between the censuses of 1841 and 1851, and the workhouse and fever hospital were described as full to overflowing.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on Kells ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Kells Round Tower · high cross · under 1 km
• Kells · round tower · under 1 km
• Castlekeeran · high cross · 5 km
• Robertstown Castle · castle · 9 km
• Durhamstown Castle · castle · 10 km
• Killua Castle · castle · 11 km
• Ballinlough Castle · castle · 14 km

Straight-line distances from the town centre, from each site's documented coordinates.

• Loughcrew cairns · Thirty tombs on the 'Hill of the Witch'; Cairn T's back-stone lights up at the equinox sunrise, and the 'Hag's Chair' outside grants a wish if you sit in it.
• Hill of Tara · Seat of the High Kings, with the Lia Fáil that cried out under a rightful king — and, in 1899, holes dug by British Israelites hunting the Ark of the Covenant.
• Tara — the Lia Fáil · The Stone of Destiny, one of four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, which roared beneath the foot of every rightful king of Ireland.
• Loughcrew — the Hag's Chair · The Cailleach leapt from hill to hill dropping stones from her apron to make the cairns, missed her footing on the last leap and died — her chair is still there.

All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.