County Meath · Leinster
Kells
Ceanannas
'head fort' or 'chief residence'
The story
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.
Worth seeing nearby
- 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.
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