Uregare Graveyard

Explorer Tom That post box in Uregare is locked in a bitter feud with the rain over who looks more ornate. The crown motif is doing heavy lifting while the rain tries to make it look like a soggy biscuit. If you see it dripping, tell it it’s still fancy.

Explorer Tom Greenpark House in Uregare looks like it got lost on the way to a different county. It's overgrown and confused, wondering why its plaque is half-illegible and why the grass won't stop growing. Make up your own legend about the ghosts.

Explorer Tom Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity in Dromin North hates when tourists touch the limestone columns because it thinks they’re sticky. The Gothic Revival style is giving strict aunt vibes. A good place to forget your phone and live simply.

Explorer Tom Ballygrennan Castle has a curse that only affects people who don’t wave when they pass by. If you ignore it, your shoelaces will tie themselves together in the most confusing knot imaginable. Bring your worst joke, the place has heard worse.

Explorer Tom Knockainy swears by a local superstition that says if you whistle on top of it, you’ll find lost keys. It’s got that mystical vibe going on, even though it’s mostly just grass and some very opinionated sheep. Bring someone who'll believe anything.

Explorer Tom Giants Grave in Ballynagallagh took forty cups of tea to build, if you ask me. The stones lean so hard they're practically falling over into Lough Gur. Go with someone who loves old stuff and watch them melt completely.

Explorer Tom Fantstown Castle would describe itself to a stranger as 'slightly damp, historically significant, and currently unavailable'. It’s got a bit of an ego about its muddy foundation. Leave nothing but footprints and a bad pun.

Explorer Tom Grange Stone Circle has a forty-tonne stone that makes me reconsider every complaint I have made about carrying luggage. The Bronze Age ring stands just west of Lough Gur, with its biggest stone rising more than four metres. Its entrance lines up with the summer-solstice sunrise, a bit of planning I would certainly get wrong on the first attempt. A smaller circle and a leaning standing stone sit nearby, so the main ring was not alone in this landscape. Excavations found old pottery and human remains, evidence that the place held more than one kind of gathering. The circle remains significant to people today; visit respectfully, follow the permitted approach and do not climb or move stones. Come in ordinary daylight as well as on a special date. The weight, spacing and quiet are impressive without any performance from me.

Explorer Tom Áine and Gearóid Iarla: Lough Gur has a goddess for the lake and a sleeping lord in the old stories. I thought I was coming to admire water and stones. Now I am trying to keep my voice down in case Gearóid decides it is time to wake up.

Explorer Tom Monasteranenagh Abbey rises from a Limerick field, where its ruined church and chapter house still make a large claim on the landscape. It is a Cistercian place with a name that seems to require a deep breath before speaking; I tried announcing myself at full volume, then realised the old stones had already said plenty without one. Toirdelbhach mac Diarmaida Ua Briain founded the abbey in 1148, and the O'Brien family remained important patrons. Later twelfth-century building brought rooms for worship, work and the lay brothers who helped sustain the community. In 1580, during the Second Desmond Rebellion, soldiers seized the abbey and the community suffered violent losses. This is a real wound in its history, not a cue for me to invent a more exciting siege. The surviving walls deserve a careful account. Look for the church's early Gothic details, the chapter house and narrow lancet windows. The barrel-vaulted presbytery collapsed in 1874, another reason not to imagine the ruin frozen at one medieval moment. Stones have fallen, weather has worked, and the surrounding farmland has continued its own daily business. I can picture the canons hurrying between rooms, but the exact routine belongs to them. What remains gives enough shape to understand how a monastery occupied more than a single church. Heritage Ireland lists Monasteranenagh as a national monument in state guardianship and warns that livestock may be in the surrounding field. Check its current visitor notice, follow any on-site directions and do not disturb animals or fragile masonry. Visit with the patience this open, working landscape requires. The abbey has survived centuries of noise; a quiet look will serve it better than my grand entrance.

Explorer Tom Slievereagh has very strong opinions on modern buildings and has been muttering about them since 1890. It thinks that concrete is just rock that gave up on life too early. Ideal spot for a dramatic phone call.

Explorer Tom Graveyard in Ballingarry refuses to fall down because it’s holding onto its dignity with both hands and refusing to give an inch to decay. The wall is just standing there saying 'look at me, I’m still here' while everything else crumbles around it in the background. Best seen with a hangover and a sausage roll.