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Healing: Exodus 15:26

The Quiet Man replica Cottage, Connemara, County Galway

The Quiet Man replica Cottage, Connemara, County Galway

The Quiet Man film (1952), directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. 
 

The film won the Academy Award for Best Director and for Best Cinematography. Part of the film’s appeal was the lush Irish countryside captured by cameraman, Winton Hoch. Nearly seventy years later, the film still has popular appeal and the Connemara cottage pictured above, remains a popular tourist attraction.

 
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Stills from the permanent display inside the cottage in Connemara

A New Thing: Isaiah 43:19

Bective Abbey - a Cistercian abbey on the River Boyne at Bective, County Meath, founded in 1147. The remaining (well-preserved) structure and ruins primarily date to the 15th century.
Bective Abbey – a Cistercian abbey on the River Boyne at Bective, County Meath, founded in 1147. The remaining (well-preserved) structure and ruins primarily date to the 15th century.

God is Love: 1 John 4:8

Andrew Jackson's Cottage: Homestead in County Antrim where the 7th President of the United States (1829 to 1837) was brought up.

Andrew Jackson's Cottage: Homestead in County Antrim where the 7th President of the United States (1829 to 1837) was brought up.

The Rock: Psalm 95:1

The Rock of Cashel, also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock, Cashel, County Tipperary

The Rock of Cashel, also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock, Cashel, County Tipperary

Anxiety to Comfort: Psalm 94:19

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These are the ancient church ruins of St Cuthberts on the Ballytober Road, Bushmills, County Antrim. The church dates from the late 1630s and was built on the site of a much older medieval church. This was a place of worship for Protestant settlers in the area but it is credited as having been provided by Catholics; namely, Lady Katherine Manners, wife of the first Earl of Antrim, Randall McDonnell, and widow of the late Marquess of Buckingham. It is, therefore, a rare example of church tolerance in this region at that time.

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St Cuthbert’s church served the Parish of Dunluce from 1622-1821, when the new Church of St. John the Baptist was built in Bushmills. It originally had a thatched roof, but as was the custom, it was then unroofed and the contents sold at auction.

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The graveyard surrounding the church includes the remains of some sailors and noblemen who drowned when the ill-fated Spanish Armada ship, Girona, sank nearby in 1588, at what became known as Port na Spaniagh (or the Bay of the Spanish). It wasn’t until 1967 that the wreck of the Girona was discovered by Belgian diver, Robert Stenuit.

Fear: 2 Timothy 1:7

Clough Castle with Mourne Mountains in background, County Down

Clough Castle with Mourne Mountains in background, County Down

The small village of Clough in County Down houses the ruin of this motte and bailey castle, built in the late 12th century as part of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ulster. Its construction was managed by the prominent Knight, John De Courcy, who masterminded a programme of castle building to establish Anglo-Norman authority.
 
This castle at Clough would have controlled one of the main routeways into the area from the south and may also have acted as part of the defence of a larger castle at Dundrum, just a few miles away.

In the sixteenth century, the ruined ‘keep’ was rebuilt as a tower house. The castle sits on a 25ft artificial mound, giving a vantage point for lovely views over the surrounding countryside, including the Mourne Mountains.

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