“Like time and like life too, the quests really do fly by and here we are nearing the end of this great Welsh and Irish Aventure. One realises that life is here to be embraced to it’s fullest, for it is over far too soon and every part of life is indeed an amazing and exciting journey for everyone to enjoy. The quests have been amazing so far, on a physical, spiritual and metaphysical level for a Light is truly shinning and guiding me on my way through this labyrinth of life….”

24th SEPTEMBER: WICKLOW GOAL. Wicklow:  Wicklow Goal does has a pervading sense of darkness hanging over it, and indeed it truly should have, considering it’s history. It is said to be haunted and that is no suprise, and indeed it has been featured in a television ghost hunter show. It is a great tourist attraction with a lovely rustic style resturant serving great food! There has been a prison on this site since the late eighteenth century. Prisoners were held at the gaol during the 1798 Rebellion and the Great Famine, many being held there prior to penal transportation.

“The outside of Wicklow Goal, looking very bleak and barren” <click to enlarge>

The goal is now a very well laid-out with plenty to see, and there is a fantastic interactive augmentive reality experience, which really does have to be experienced to be believed. It throws one right back into those dark depressing times of the rebelion and beyond, to the start of the ‘troubles’ in fact, and one really does think one is actually there – very eye opening and a excellent experience. read more about the gaol’s history here:

Wicklow Gaol.

“From inside Wicklow Goal where one small Grail clues can be located….” <click to enlarge>

 

“Outside in the yard, it was hell on earth working on the treadmill…” <click to enlarge>

Grail Bloodline:

  • Lord Robert de Neville. (Karl’s 21st Great Grandfather) 1237-1271

ST KEVIN’S CHURCH: KNOCKFIN: Co Wicklow: St Kevins Church was set in a beautiful garden setting with some quite magical touches about it. There was a beautiful labyrinth there with many meaningful ornamental touches around with words of explanation. But what does one do when surprised by a beautiful labyrinth? Why one just has to walk it! And walk it indeed i did! 🙂

The Labyrinth
‘An ancient symbol found in several religous traditions representing ‘wholeness’
The Labyrinth is a ‘metaphor’ for life’s journey, a symbol that creates a sacred space and place, which takes us out of our own ego to ‘that which is within’

Sadly there is nothing on the internet for this church so one just has to go by the ‘feel’ of it and that fact that it is a part of our quests so of course connected to Craft. There are some really lovely words on the plaques and stones around the grounds that document the life and times of St Kevin. We were able to pop inside for just a very short time as we ‘happened’ upon the caretakers who were just locking up for the day and managed a few nice photos.

I was able to capture a few of the treasures inside the church before it was locked….

St Kevins Church is set in a quiet tranquil area and one can understand why he himself pilgrimaged there…

Within the well thought-out garden of the church are some lovely plaques and stones that tell of St Kevins journey depicting his gentle life, with some very meaningful works <please click each image to view in detail>

Grail Bloodline Connection:

  • Lord Robert de Neville. (21st Great Grandfather) 1237-1271

Another very fascinating day and more was yet to come as we drove through the stunning Wicklow Mountains; mountains that have securely held on to all their secrets throughout modern time. Forget about what you know, it’s what you dont know that is important, we all see through different eyes, some are open while others are not. One needs to have one’s eyes well and truly open in those Wicklow Mountains, for then one can see it all. But if you dont ‘see’, then you were not meant to… The hidden riddles of an alternative history are all there, just hidden in plain sight….

The mysterious and magificant Wicklow Mountains <click to enlarge>

25th SEPTEMBER: ST JOSEPH’S CHURCH TEMPLERAINEY. Dublin Road. Tiknock. Arklow. Co Wicklow: Sadly again no information on the internet on the history of this church. It looks very modernish in comparison with many of the other churchs we have visited, but as we always strive to say, it is not the building but the actual site it has been built upon. There are no grounds as such, it’s mostly car park, but just a few shrubs and a rather lovely statue. We were very lucky to gain access as this church too was just being locked up, so i had a rather whirlwind photo oportunity inside to say the leat!

St Joseph’s Church – we really ‘flew’ around it!

Grail Bloodline Connection:

  • Earl Gospatrick Mac Maldred. (26th Great Grandfather) 1042-1082

25th SEPTEMBER:  ST. ENOCHS CHURCH. KILLINICK. Sanctuary. Co Wexford: Again sadly another church we could not get inside of and no info as such about it. It was set in pretty grounds with some old gravestones with some interesting iron railings. It looked to be as if it was not used much, but one never knows. This present church was built in 1828 on the site of a much older church. The whole village seemed extremely quiiet and deserted and the preserved old water pump on the green, made one really feel like one was back ‘in time’.

St Enoch’s Church: A peaceful corner of time…. <click to enlarge>

I did find this ‘historical’ description on Killinick itself though: “a parish, in the barony of FORTH, county of WEXFORD, and province of LEINSTER, 4½ miles (S.) from Wexford, on the road to Rosslare; containing 591 inhabitants. It comprises 1254 statute acres, which are chiefly under tillage, and in a good state of cultivation: there is a quarry of shingle, which is used for repairing the roads. Coal and other commodities are brought up in cots from Wexford harbour, by an inlet which is navigable at spring tides. Some of the inhabitants on the banks of this inlet are engaged in fishing. Fairs are held in the village on Easter- Monday, Whit-Tuesday, April 8th, May 27th, Sept. 21st, and Nov. 30th. Petty sessions are held every fortnight or month, on Tuesdays, and here is a constabulary police station. The living is a rectory, episcopally united to the vicarage of Maglass, and to the impropriate curacies of Killiane, Kilmocree, St. Michael’s, and Ishartmon. The tithes amount to £102. 18. 5½., of which £3. 14. 5. is payable to the impropriator, £85. 2. 7. to the rector, and £14. 1. 5½. to the rector of Ballybrennan. The church, a plain modern structure with a square tower, was built in 1828, by a loan of £1100 from the late Board of First Fruits, but has lately been condemned as unsafe. In the R. C. divisions this parish forms part of the union or district of Maglass, and has a neat chapel at Ballymore. The parochial school is held in a private house, and is aided by donations from the rector; and there is another public school, in which 120 children are educated, and 40 are taught in a private school. Ballyran Castle is situated about a quarter of a mile south of the church, and is the property of the Lett family”

Eventually i did find a bit more info of the construction/building kind on ‘The Buildings of Ireland’ search page if anyone is interested, but sadly the page would not let me leave a link here or copy and paste the info, so maybe that was meant to be….

The old graveyard of St Enoch’s, plus it’s interesting wall (another way in for pilgrims) and the old village pump <click to enlarge>

Grail Bloodline Connection:

  • Earl William Neville. 4th Earl of Abergavenny. (5th Great Uncle) 1792-1868

26th SEPTEMBER: FARE THEE WELL IRELAND:  So that was it then and it was once again to be a fond farewell to Ireland and home once again to the UK via ‘The Last Pub in Ireland’ and a very stormy ride on the high seas! Then back to the UK via Wales….

“There is often a great sense of ‘time’ when on our quests. It may be that certain place are ‘timeless’. Others places have a feeling of ‘going back in time’. Even more interesting some sites have a sense of being ‘time out of time’. A few places do have a sense of ‘drifting in and out of time’ – maybe thats a story for another day. In the Wicklow Mountains area there was definitely a feeling of time, but it was a sense of known history hidden in time. Pockets of ‘other time’ do exist within our reality, yet many will never have an inkling of what is really out there in their ‘time’….”

“Never forget that time is everything.
Time heals, time hides and time will always reveal….”

“There is a season for eveything.
A time for every occupation under heaven.
A time for giving birth.
A time for dying.
A time for planting.
A time for uprooting”

 

13th November 2022 “The Keeper of Scrolls”

 email me here ‘moon.willow@ntlworld.com’