Chapel of the Abbey, Innisfallen. Illustrated London News 15 (18 July 1849): 52. Click on image to enlarge it.
“Innisfallen is situated to the west of Ross Island and is, as its name imports a beautiful or healthy island. It has but two landing-places, one of which has a mole where tourists disembark. This beautiful spot consists of eighteen acres of delightful woodland, knoll, and lawn. The timber of Innisfallen consists ef gigantic oak and ash trees, whilst the arbutus and the holly form the under wood. Among the curiosities pointed out to visitors are—a holly, fourteen feet in circumference; a hawthorn growing through a tombstone near the Abbey; a crab-tree, with an aperture, through which the guide recommends ladies to pass; and the Bed of Honour, a projecting rock, shaded by an old yew, and so called from having been visited by the Duke of Rutland, when he was governor of Ireland. The Abbey of Innisfallen was founded in the sixth century, by St. Finian, but the ruins now visible are evidently of much later date" In 1180 the island was ravaged, the abbey plundered, and the priests slain by Maolduin O’Donaghoe. The “Annals of Innisfallen" are among the earliest and most authentic of the ancient Irish histories. The original work, written, and for several centuries preserved, in the Abbey of Innisfallen, is now in the Bodleian Library; and another is preserved at Trinity College, Dublin. These MSS. comprise a history of the world from the creation to A.D. 432, from which period to 1320 they refer solely to Ireland. At the south-east corner of the island is an ancient chapel, with a Saxon doorway; it is called the oratory. The pasturage on this land is celebrated for fattening cattle.” (51).
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Bibliography
“The Lakes of Killarney.” Illustrated London News 15 (18 July 1849): 51-52. Hathi Trust online version of a copy of the Illustrated London News in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 22 June 2021.
Last modified 22 June 2021