Follow the Old Road: Discover the Ireland of Yesteryear

(Paperback, New edition)

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Description

By turning off the main highway and discovering old routes, some of which have been travelled for thousands of years, you will see Ireland in an entirely different way. Follow the Old Road will take you on a tour of a variety of pathways from great river roads to lost railways.

Long before records began, travellers arriving on our shores found safe havens, natural harbours, the estuaries of rivers, and settled there, in sight of the ocean that had brought them to this land. Gradually they moved inland to more fertile soil, usually along the course of a river that provided both guidance and essential water supplies. In later centuries, great lords built their castles and monks their abbeys upriver, at the tidal limit. Some of the routes are still used today while others lie ignored and overgrown. Villages, and, later on, towns grew up around these castles and abbeys to serve their needs; towns that still prosper today.

Reviews

a historical travelogue that will inspire explorers beautifully designed and presented evoking yesteryear rediscover for yourself the old roads of Ireland

-- Irish Examiner

Jo Kerrigans welcome book traces lesser-known routes in Ireland- lesser-known to the stranger anyway -useful not just for the walker but for the casual student of social history.

Richard Mills splendid black-and-white photographs help make the book into a consummate picture of oldways that are still with us physically and spritually

4 star review from

-- RTE.ie/culture

terrific a wonderful work that will surely inspire

-- Celtic Life International Magazine

wonderful photography

-- Hotel and Catering Review

witness the beauty of Ireland as never before

-- Irish Country Magazine

discover the hidden beauty of Ireland through lesser known roads

-- Antrim Guardian

deceptively simple lyrical beautifully resurrects the arteries of Ireland on which life once moved a pleasure to read

-- Evening Echo

I admire your passion because it comes through people can hear how deeply you care about these places, about this way of life... great photography if you are a fan of rural Ireland there is a lot for you to take out of that

-- Clare FMs Morning Focus with Gavin Grace

Kerrigans Follow the Old Road uncovers tantalising alternate Irelands kingdoms of Oz to our familiar Kansas. As with her previous two travel books, there is a generous helping of history, archaeology, wildlife and folklore always with more than a hint of mystery. Questions are asked and not all are answered, making the armchair traveller long to get up and see for themselves the real places stunningly rendered in mysterious black-and-white photography by Richard Mills. How did Mills get that strange white cat to pose at the mouth of the Cave of Cats which the ancients believed was the entrance to the otherworld in Rathcroghan in Co Roscommon This is a book to dream over Kerrigans cinematic approach makes me see finally how everything fits together while paradoxically opening up endless versions. Theres something quite magical about this, and Follow the Old Road makes a great companion for her Old Ways, Old Secrets which conjures tales from the ground under our feet, documenting a pagan Ireland which still breathes in her pages detailed and evocative but it is impossible to do justice to the wealth of information. Kerrigan has the rare gift of being able to transfer her own vision to the reader. I wont be happy now until Ive seen these roads for myself

-- Irish Times

an entertaining read, whether youre using it as a travel guide on holiday or enhancing your understanding of a favourite walk or journey

-- Belfast Telegraph

Author Bio

Jo Kerrigan grew up amid the wild beauties of West Cork; after working in the UK as writer, academic and journalist, she returned home to the place she loved best. She now writes regularly for a range of publications, including The Irish Examiner and the Evening Echo as well as international magazines, and operates a very popular online weblog. Richard Mills, born in Provence, moved to West Cork at the age of 16. Since then he has combined the career of press photographer with The Irish Examiner and Evening Echo, with that of keen wildlife photographer, garnering many national and international awards and seeing his images published across the world. He has also been the subject of a TV programme by the wildlife film maker, Eamon de Buitlear.