Christmas stone circles

As one does when back in the home country, I spent Christmas with the family. And what better way to start the festive morning, than with a quick trip to some awesome stone circles at Grange, Co. Limerick.

The locals keep an eye on the site and you pay a small fee at the gate to enter

#stonecircleselfie

Ireland's SOPA proposal that you can't actually vote on

Just found out today that the motherland has gone the way of American senators, bowing down to pressure from the EU and international corporations in regard to intellectual property rights and all that jazz. Infuriating.

You can sign the petition online here http://stopsopaireland.com/

I've also written a long email to the ministers and am currently firing copies to everyone associated with Limerick (yes, I got a bit carried away with the letter...sigh). Do the same for your own county and let's get this thing under control!

This image sums up one of the associated issues of this entire fiasco:

Bye bye, democracy, it was nice knowing you, even if you were broken.

Limerick Hell-Fire Club

While back home, I was lucky enough to get a trip out to Askeaton Co. Limerick. Work is currently under-way restoring Askeaton Castle, but funding has run out on the 18th Century build beside it, the Limerick Hell-Fire Club. It is such a shame, as the building really needs some serious TLC. Very unusual in design and one of only two buildings in the country associated with the Hell-Fire Clubs, it looks like the heritage board just don't see it as a priority. The town is more famous for its island Castle, initially built in the late 12th century, the majority of the building now dates to the 15th century and was in use until Cromwellian forces dismantled it in the late 17th century.

The Limerick Hell-Fire Club:

Wild Hogs of Ireland

Limerick's continuing destruction of heritage

I'll let this article speak for itself, source here . Thanks to Emily for notifying me of this.

Check out the comments section on his article for more info... Angry Bock is angry:

Limerick City Council — Destroying Your Heritage One Cellar At A Time

Another big round of applause to Limerick City Council for smashing in the hidden treasures beneath our feet. This is what happens when a local authority has no conservation officer, no archaeologist, no heritage officer and no architect. It puts hundreds of years of history at the mercy of an ignorant lout with a digger.

Under our town, there’s another hidden city of subterranean caverns, 200 years old, which the city council is busy demolishing. In a grown-up country, some official would see that this is a resource and would plan a way to use it for the common good, but not here in Ireland.

In this country, we give such decisions to roads technicians — people who wouldn’t know heritage from a hole in the ground.