The Hill of Slane did not really impress me with it’s title, but it turned out to be a really interesting place, I just wish that it had not been raining so much. From this hill Saint Patrick is said to have preached in 433 AD. Not sure if this is where he cast the snakes out of Ireland, but I must admit that we saw no snakes at all while on this hill.

The rain fell the entire time we were there. Most of these shots are done from what was left of any type of roof structure so that I could keep the camera dry. At this spot was an old Monastery with a stone staircase that went up about three or four stories. At this point I had climbed about half way up and took a quick picture. Since there was no roof, the rain kept pouring down the stairs. I am trying to climb it with my tripod and camera and was slipping on the wet rock. When I got to the top it was just open to the sky and dropped off about 40 feet to the ground. Safety not so important in the middle ages.

For non-panoramas look here:

The across the lane from the Monastery was St. Patrick’s Church built in 1512. This too was destroyed but oddly enough the cemetery is still active. Among graves that are 200-300 years old you find ones that are 2-3 years old! This was not just here, but all over Ireland churches no longer in use except for the cemetery.

The rain made the photos wash out, but with a flash the brought back a lot of color. Now is THIS Irish green?

This is out by the cemetery area. The shot above was taken from a place just out of site from the wall on the left.