IRELAND: QUEST TWENTY SIX:

Day Four: Dublin: Although sadly we never had time to see anything of the city of Dublin as such, i did manage a few quick photos whilst traveling to our designated destinations, but certainly a city to come back to and explore at leisure.

 

Driving through Dublin!

 St Andrews Church: Although we were unable to actually stop here due to location and parking challenges, we did indeed drive past and acknowledged that it is now the Central Tourist Office for Dublin! Times change, people change and the use of buildings change, but let us not be sad as it is indeed good to see the building being used and vibrant, even though not in a religious sense.

The original St Andrews Church was located on present-day Dame Street, but disapeared during Oliver Cromwell’s reign in the mid-17th century. A new church was built in 1665, a little further away from the city walls and due to its shape was commonly known as the ‘Round Church’. Thomas Dalton, Lord Chancellor of Ireland was buried here in 1730. The population of the parish in 1901 was 3,058, in 1971 it was 300. It has to be noted also that there is a high Lithuanian population here.

You can read more about St Andrews Church in the link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Andrew%27s_Church,_Dublin_(Church_of_Ireland)

 

  • Bloodline Connections: Both Albert John Fordham (1928-1987) and John Fordham (1892) were baptised here.
  • Also connection to the Neville line.

Christ Church Cathedral/The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity: This is the cathedral of the United Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the Ecclesiastical Province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the Church of Ireland. It is the elder of the capitals two medieval churches being founded in c.1030, the other being St Patricks Cathedral. There were extensive renovations being carried out while we were there which were tad disorientating, but the hoardings themselves were fun and very photogenic in themselves, giving an opurtunity for some colourful photography!

 

Christ Church Cathedral: There are many richly sumptuous artifacts and fine decor here, yet at the same time there are equally (or in fact more) relevant and important histotical artifacts seemingly hidden away in corners…

 

The ‘hidden’ artifacts; many of which relate directly to ‘The Neville’ bloodline; but just why would they be kept low key and mostly unmarked?

Christ Church is officially claimed as the seat (cathedra) of both the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic archbishops of Dublin. The cathedral was founded probably sometime after 1028 when King Sitric Silkenbeard, the Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin made a pilgrimage to Rome. The first bishop of this new Dublin diocese was Dunan or Donat; the diocese was at that time a small island of land surrounded by the much larger  Diocese of Glendalough and was for a time answerable to Canterbury rather than to the Irish Church hierarchy. The church was built on the high ground overlooking the Viking settlement at Wood Quay and Sitric gave the “lands of Baldoyle, Raheny and Portrane for its maintenance.” Of the four old Celtic Christian churches reputed to have existed around Dublin, only one, dedicated to St Martin of Tours lay within the walls of the Viking city, and so Christ Church was one of just two churches for the whole city.

 

Some of the amazing and priceless artworks in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin; more photos from this cathedral can be seen in the section on Celtic Crosses (part one) and Templar Symbolism (part two)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_Cathedral,_Dublin

https://christchurchcathedral.ie/visit-us/

Right next door to the cathedral is a venue known as Dublinia; a historical recreation (or living history) museum and visitor attraction focusing on the Viking and  Medieval history of the city. Dublinia is located in a part of Christ Church Catherdral, known as the Synod Hall.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublinia

  • Bloodline connection is to the Neville line

St Patrick’s Cathedral: Dublin: On this occasion, although on our itinery, we never actually made it to St Patricks Catherdral which was some distance away; the journey had been fairly long getting to Dublin from our base that morning and still lots lay ahead. But hopefully in the future was shall be sure to visit. Please do follow the links though to read up about it:

https://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/learn/life-and-history/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patrick%27s_Cathedral,_Dublin

 

  • Bloodline connection is to the Neville line

St Nicholas Parish Church: Dundalk: After another drive through the Irish countryside we arrived in the busy town of Dunalk in County Louth; part of the diocese of Armagh. This is a bustling and very friendly town, it’s name in Irish is Dún Dealgan, which means “Dalgan’s fort” and it is the county town of County Louth. It is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay, and is near the border with Northern Ireland, halfway between Dublin and Belfast, so we had travelled a fair few miles that day. It has associations with the mythical warrior hero  Cu Chulainn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundalk

 

St Nicholas Parish Church, sits on a busy road junction in the heart of the town, surrounded by local shops, cafes and takeaways. Again once inside it is a beautiful church with a very peaceful energy. The original church was built in the 1220’s and some parts of the church have not born the ravishes of time very well, while in other parts restoration has been carried out.

 

The interior of St Nicholas Church

A Dr. Oliver Davies, who examined all the old churches of County Louth in 1945, put the probable date of the church in the thirteenth century and considered that it was the need of a rising seaport which called for its erection. In this connection it is suggestive that St. Nicholas is the patron saint of merchant venturers by sea, and that many sea ports have churches dedicated in his name. During the troubled times of the Rebellion in 1641-50, when Dundalk was taken by assault, and of the campaigns of Schomberg and James II, 1688-90, the church fabric became sadly damaged. It was re-roofed in part in 1702, as a stone in the vestry records, when Rev. Ralph Lambert was vicar, it was “restored in a new and more elegant form.” and as is the case for so many churches restoration continued down the centuries.

 

For a parish church St Nicholas did have some rather stunning stained-glass windows

https://www.stnicholas-greenchurchdundalk.com/history

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=LH&regno=13701004

  • Bloodline Connection: the home of the ‘Fallen’ Nevilles of the Great War with actual records of the returned on ‘The Returned Army’ page.
  • NEVILLE, C, Royal Irish Rifles. From Church Street, Dundalk. (Tempest’s Annual 1916)
  • NEVILLE, Sapper, E V, 68 Division, Signal Corps, Royal Engineers. From New Street, Dundalk. (Tempest’s Annual 1916)
  • NEVILLE, Lieutenant, ERNEST W, Royal Engineers (Telegraphist). (Tempest’s Annual 1917)
  • NEVILLE, Sergeant, W, Royal Army Service Corps. From New Street, Dundalk.(Tempest’s Annual 1916)
  • NEVILLE, WILLIAM,  HMS Anemone. From 1 Brunswick Row, Dundalk. (Tempest’s Annual 1916)

Actual Records here:- http://www.jbhall.freeservers.com/the_returned_army_page_d.htm

Day Five: Belfast Jewish Community: As part of the Priory teachings we endevour to gain insight and understandings of all the earthly religions; to see common threads but also differences too. The Jewish community in Belfast dates back to 1079, but this building here was built in the 1960’s; as well as a temple of prayer and service it is also a community hub. The people there were very friendly and welcoming, and to someone who’s first time this was, the ladies kindly guided and engaged me in the service which was a massive three hours long due to the time of year!

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It is quite a big building; much bigger inside than it appears on the outside and  is decorated  in a modern style with lots of blue and light coloured wood. As expected, treasures of the religion are housed there for services, but as there was a service taking place when we visited (our reason for going) i was unable to take any photos. It has to be noted though that even in these so called enlightened times, there was a small police presence outside the building the whole time that worship was taking place.

http://www.belfastjewishcommunity.org.uk/history/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast_Hebrew_Congregation

 

Bloodline Connection: The Neville line

St Anne’s Cathedral: Belfast: A beautiful building with the largest Celtic Cross on the outside that i have ever seen! St Anne’s Cathedral, also known as Belfast Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Donegall Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is unusual in serving two separate dioceses (Connor and Down and Dromore). A cathedral is the place where a bishop has a seat but Belfast Cathedral is unusual in having the seats of two bishops – the Bishop of Connor and the Bishop of Down & Dromore. It is the focal point of the Cathedral Quarter, Belfast.

 

The first architect was Sir Thomas Drew, the foundation stone being laid on 6 September 1899 by the Countess of Shaftesbury. The old parish church of St Anne by  Francis Hiorne of 1776 had continued in use, up until 31 December 1903, while the new cathedral was constructed around it; the old church was then demolished. The Good Samaritan window, to be seen in the sanctuary, is the only feature of the old church to be retained in the cathedral.

 

In 1924 it was decided to build the west front of the cathedral as a memorial to the Ulstermen and women who had served and died in The Great War. The foundation stone for this was laid by the Governor of Northern Ireland, the Duke of Abercorn on 2 June 1925 and the completed facade, to an amended design by the architect Sir Charles Archibald Nicholson, was dedicated in June 1927. The cathedral is very grand inside and spacious and of course very photogenic!

 

 

Some of the beautiful artworks and stained-glass windows to be found inside Belfast Cathedral

 

The Columba Challice, The Hand of G-d; note the position of the fingers. The Pyramids in stained-glassan unusual design for a cathedral; if one looks close, one can see the sphinx too.

Bloodline Connection is that of the Neville line but we also saw a Forde reference too!

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Anne%27s_Cathedral,_Belfast

Stained-Glass Windows; the stories told: Throughout the lands of mankind, stories and myths have always been told; by scribes, by artisans, by painters, by monks in the old times, verbally by story tellers then and now, and of course by those craftsmen whom painstakingly worked on the stained-glass windows seen in churches all over our lands at certain sacred points in time. To understand the messages contained within, we have to look deep into our past history, yet not as we know it, not as we are told but of the real history, often hidden in plain-sight right there on the windows.

The windows often depict the life and death of ‘The Jesus‘, often showing him with a serpent entwined around a segment of the windows design. One would be forgiven to assume that it was a reference to the serpent of the well-known bible stories and in a way it is.  Yet it alludes to ‘The Serpent Priesthood‘; the path of the true Knight Templar. The serpent connects to freedom,  of being totally consumed by dogma; yet freedom has to be tasted within before it can be tasted without, so one (with knowledge of the Serpent Priesthood) learns over time how to control the serpent; how to be free.

The Jesus is often seen wearing the colours of the Templar (Neville) lineage, of Red and White (silver) representing blood and honour, especially in battle, with honour originating from the past monetery use of silver. Colours are never by accident; they are a very integral part of the hidden symbology and convey numerous meanings.

The lives and deeds of the saints are often depicted and of course it was St Patrick or Saint Columba here in Ireland;  a saint having a certain connection to an area will often be depicted in the local church windows, yet they are also shown in mythological  or esoteric connotations.

Of course many symbols and emblems to be found incorporated in these window designs again relate to the Neville bloodline, the Serpent Priesthood and to the Knight Templars, thus making them a fascinating source of history and thus traceble through time. But just why do these images always connect to each other in the way they do and how or why did they come to be? Enscriptions, together with Masonic and Templar symbols are very often placed strategically on the windows telling a truth without words, hidden from mankind.

The ladies in the life of the Jesus play a big part too, and if one looks closely at the windows, gender is not always what it seems to be either – or what we have been led to believe. Many artists of the day were involved in the creation of stained-glass windows, non more so than the Pre-Raphalite artists who were inexplicitly drawn towards mysticsm and knowledge. Celestial objects; the sun, stars and moon and other lesser-known planets, mean something much different in Templarism and often hold centre stage on many windows, often predicting the future times to come; yet offering a warning too. Caskets, boxes, scrolls, children and of course ‘The Lamb’ are often widely used too, as is nature and flowers, but always with a secret Craft meaning which eludes to the potions of creation.

 

.A selection of the stained-glass windows discovered in Ireland; many with messages hidden well within plain sight

So on these quests we are discovering among many things, how ancient buildings are speaking to us. The stunningly beautiful and exquisite artwork and mosaic tiles that adorn the wall and floors of many a church or cathedral is not just for the sake of the artwork alone, but also for the clues left to us, hidden ‘within stone’ of the true untold history of our country. All left for us to decipher; left for the astute truth seekers to discover and acknowledge – truly and surely a quest for the modern-day Knight…

Dan Brown did kind of have the right ‘idea’ in a very loose sense but was way, way off track with his actual facts and tellings; he had the wrong locations, the wrong churches and followed a few expertly placed red herrings, as one would. However the symbols of the past are all still here, expertly placed within plain sight for all to see, awaiting the astute to rip off their old hoodwinks and to decipher…..

These symbols do not connect to ‘modern day Christianity‘ for they hark back to a much older time, travelling through the lineages of The Knights Templars, the Free Masons, the Eastern Star, to the Egyptian Mysteries, to Ancient Sumeria and even much further back in time and beyond our world. The clues and stories have survived, yet few know of the real meanings and of the ‘placement’ of the clues in specific areas. It is truly a quest of a lifetime and most certainly beyond, and that is why we love these quests so very much!

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“The Grail Kingship is merely seasons in front.
So be it that all those whom disbelieve shall cease to remain” K. N.

“…show me that L.i.g.h.t that burns bright amongst the stars and the moon. Show me the dawn of a land that was never known and I shall see you in the trinity of time.” K. N.

Conclusion to our Irish Quest; many Templar secrets shared here:

 

‘The Keeper of Scrolls’ October 2018