St Flannan's Cathedral

Overview

Bordering the River Shannon in the charming town of Killaloe in County Clare, St. Flannan's Cathedral is a historic site dating from the early 12th century. It features a compelling combination of romanesque and gothic architectural details and is also home to a range of ancient artefacts and stone carvings.

The most prominent is the Ogham stone — one of only about 400 in Ireland and the only one that includes both Ogham and a runic script. Ogham is Ireland's ancient and first written script thought to have been used to mark important grave sites and as land markers. Runic scripts were used by Germanic peoples (northern Europe, including Britain and Scandinavia, i.e. Vikings). The Ogham reads " A blessing upon Thorgrim" and the runic script states "Thorgrim carved this cross."

Images: Tourism Ireland