July 2019

POTD: Unsafe at Any Speed

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Unsafe at Any Speed
Abbeylara, County Longford
Ireland
2019

I read once that castle spiral staircases were always built in a counter-clockwise direction looking down. The reason for this was so that right-handed swordsmen defending from above had more room to draw and swing their swords than swordsmen invading from below (unless of course they were beset with left-handed invaders). This particular set of stairs was in a Cistercian Abbey rather than a castle. I’m not sure how much sword work the monks participated in so tradition more so than defense may have been the reason for these stairs being built that way.

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POTD: Deirbhle’s Twist

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Deirbhle’s Twist
Mullet Peninsula, County Mayo
Ireland
2019

This is actually a contemporary work of art by Michael Bulfin and is part of Tír Sáile – The North Mayo Sculpture Trail. It was designed to look like a megalithic stone circle and it certainly does. I had to wonder though why he chose to do that given there are so many true megalithic stone circles, portage tombs, standing stones etc. all over that part of Ireland.

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