The Day we Went to Bishopstown

Finally, we have some warm weather. The current temperature at 5 pm is 25 and the expected high today was 27. The Irish are all melting!  

We decided to stay local today and set out on a walking treasure hunt after breakfast. This took us from our accommodation on the now familiar route, down Lee Road, over Wellington Bridge and along the other side of the River Lee as far as Lee Fields. 

Here is where the treasure hunt began as we turned onto the Curraheen River Walk with 5 archeological points of interest, remnants of the old Bishopstown Estate to be discovered. A total distance of 4.75 km in addition to the 2 kms we had already walked to reach the start. 

As soon as we turned onto the path, away from the busy main road, we walked into a peaceful, leafy canopy bordered by a narrow Curraheen river which looked more like a man made canal in parts. 

Reaching the point where there was some work being done to cut up and remove a very large fallen tree, we discovered from a local that this tree had been the oldest oak in Bishopstown, at a staggering 350 years old. It fell late last week, and there is speculation that its demise was brought about by vandalism and fires being lit in a hollowed portion of the trunk, leading to its decline and subsequent collapse. 

Walking on, we eventually found our way to the first location on the map, an old lime kiln, described as an important example of industrial archaeology. Beyond this, we discovered the cut stone door surround from the original Bishopstown House built in 1726. 



The next thing we came across was the welcome sight of a coffee van, so we availed ourselves of both coffee and icecreams before moving on to find the remnants of the Chapel built in 1730 and the neighbouring shell house, although there was no evidence remaining of the shell decorations which it had been named for. 




A short distance away we found the two rubble-stone arched bridges which completed our treasure hunt. It was now midday, so we voted to follow the Twopot River path down to Curraheen road in the hope of finding a number 208 bus to take us into the city. This river is meant to be a haven for otters,  but there were none in evidence today. We did see a large Grey Heron however, who kept us entertained as he fished along the water’s edge. 



Back in civilisation we found some lunch before both couples set off on separate missions, Wallsy and I doing some food shopping for dinner before catching a bus back to Atkins Hall. 

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