Thursday began as a gorgeous day. Breakfast was the same in The Saddle Room as Wednesday. Except that I found a pot labeled "Blood & white Pudding." I did try a bite of the white pudding. I didn't like it very much. I did get a small bowl of porridge and put in some raw sugar and it was wonderful!!
We had the car brought around, and had directions in hand (and better directions and map of Dublin from the concierge desk). We headed out on the N4/M4 towards Mullingar. At Mullingar we headed up R394 towards Castlepollard. This is one of those quintessential roads you hear about. There is barely room enough for both cars to pass. The shrubbery grows very close to the road, so close I could have rolled down my window and grabbed handfuls of leaves. It also made taking any photos very difficult. In Castlepollard, we took the roundabout to R395 towards Collinstown.
Just outside the village of Collinstown is St. Mary's parish. St. Mary's parish is one of two parishes that incorporates Collinstown Parish. We arrived just after Mass began, and we quietly slipped in to our places. The church is a beautiful country parish. This church was built in 1880. I could not find any information as to why a new parish was built. We did learn from the priest that the original St. Mary's was on that site. There was not a cemetery at that parish. We were told that St. Feichin's had a cemetery and also there was a Pub in Glenidan.
Outside of St. Mary's parish. It was very much in the shade and I played with several different exposures. I think I am going to have to play with them in Lightroom 7 Photoshop to get them a bit better.
This is the bell and belltower. There were no signs explaining the significance of the tower or the bell.
Outer doors to the parish.
This is a replica grotto of Lourdes, France.
One of the two baptismal fonts of the church. This is the newer one. It is made of marble and is octagonal in shape. The 8 sides symbolize rebirth and renewal in the Catholic faith. This comes from the book of Genesis. God made the earth in 6 days, he rested on the seventh, and life began anew on the 8th.
this was taken as far back as I could go. My back is to the inner wooden & glass doors. The pews are wood and very simplistic in design. There is little padding to the kneelers and they do not lift up and down like kneelers we are accustomed to here in the states.
The altar looked to be made of white marble and similar to many of the older parishes. it was quite possibly against the far back wall of the sanctuary and then brought forward and separated into two pieces for the Vatican II changes. On the back of the high altar, the left is carvings of the Paschal Lamb and on the right is a carving of the Pelican and three pelican fledglings. The Pelican is pecking itself on the breast. This is a sign of the Eucharist as a mother pelican will pull off her own flesh to feed her young in times of need. Surrounding the two carvings are carvings which look like Ivy or the Shamrock.
On the lower altar, Jesus is lying in repose in a similar style to the Pieta. The columns were a very pretty darkish olive color. Maybe they were from Connemara marble?
This was the older of the two baptismal fonts. It was in the front and to the left of the altar (facing).
Each side was identical with seating in the balcony, and confessionals underneath. There were also candle stands on each side.
This shows the wooden roof as well as the wooden pews and kneelers. There is a large choir loft in the back of the church.
Unfortunately I forgot my longer lens in the camera bag, back in the hotel room. I stayed off and away of the altar in respect of the Eucharist. So these are the best pictures I could get of the windows. There were 6 total in the Sanctuary. Two behind the altar and 2 on each side of the sanctuary. These are the two on the right side. They are of St. Bridgid to the Left and St. Patrick to the right. They were EXTREMELY similar to those in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston made by Mayer & Co. of Germany.
Behind the statue of St. Patrick is the very large rectory for the parish. it is very large and probably 1 and 1/2 times the size of our home. It is easily 3,000+ sq feet.
When you come out of St. Mary's and turn left, you enter into the village of Collinstown. In the heart of the village lies a roundabout. The first turn to the left will take you towards Fore and Glenidan. We decided we would go to Fore first to see St. Feichin's and then head to Glenidan to the pub for lunch. As you turn left off the roundabout, you will pass by Mr. & Mrs. F. F's house (more later) and the Collinstown cemetery. We did not visit this cemetery as 1. the priest did not mention it when we asked about graves, and 2. it looked extrememly modern.
As you head down the road, you will take the first left towards Fore. this is a very tiny road that leads you passed Lough Lene. This is a picture of Lough Lene. We stopped just very briefly to grab a picture. Collinstown is on the left of the lake, and fore is to the right of the lake and over a small mountain/hill.
In the shadows of St. Feichin's church. I purposefully shot this so that you could feel how it was to be outside of this church in it's shadow. It was quite amazing.
You can see Joe crossing the street, the village of Fore is to the right, and you can see our little Nissan behind him.
The gateway to the village of Fore
One of the baptismal fonts. Very similar to the octagonal one at St. Mary's. 
the inside of the parish. It was very modern on the outside as versus the gorgeous exterior. The pews are exactly the same as the ones at St. Mary's. 
A second baptismal font, found at the front of the parish.
A statue of St. Feichin. This is on the Northern side of the parish.
All of the next pictures are of the cemetery of St. Feichin's. A lot of the graves are very old and are crumbling. It is on a slight embankment which slopes southward.
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