Adare, a Picturesque Irish Village

Adare Village a scenic picturesque quintessential Irish village with thatched roof houses, medieval churches, and fairy forts.  The area around Adare is home to many wealthy Irish families among some famous Irish names like the Fitzgerald's.

The Earl of Dunraven was one of the first settlers of the town of Adare.  In the late 1700's Earl of Dunraven decided the castle he was living in was too old and run down. He decided to build a new castle and called it Adare Manor. At this time in history, these castles or mansions would have an average of fifty bedrooms, and to maintain and run the household of this size it would take up to 200 staff from the gardener, the cook, the maids, butlers, horseman, wait staff, and housekeeper working for landlords.  The staff was not allowed to live on the grounds of the mansion of the "landlord," so shantytowns grew up around the manors made up of all of the workers. Lord Dunraven was a philanthropist and a good man and decided when he completed the mansion; he would build a village for all of his workers.  He had it designed with each family having a home, along with parks and gardens and even a local church and a town hall. The church was the Trinitarian Abbey and was designated specifically for his workers.  Lord Dunraven set an example at this time to other landlords, and they also began to build these villages for their employees.  This improved the way of life for these Irish workers. Adare with its beautiful landscape is the wedding capital of Ireland.  Many brides want to get married at the Trinitarian Church and then have their pictures taken across the street in the beautifully landscaped park, and if they have enough money, they have the reception at Adare Manor. 

Adare has a rich history that includes fairies and fairy forts.  Why do the Irish believe so much in fairies? Many countries have their forms of beliefs in fairies. England has pixies and Denmark has trolls.  These mythological beings come from the original Celtic influences.  But the Irish love of storytelling keeps them alive.  Similar to the fairy trees, there are several circles of trees all over Ireland that reference the fairies. 

These circle of trees in Ireland are in places where there are no towns or cities.  Flying across Ireland, you can see them.  There were no such things as town or cities in Ireland back in 500 bc to 1100 bc.  The way the Celtic lived back then was in very small communities of around 25 people, all of the same family.  They were all about farming and the raising of livestock. The livestock at this time was the currency, so it was protected. The Celtic lived in mud huts and would house six to eight people. There would be four to seven mud huts grouped tightly together for all of the people living there. These huts would be encircled by a timber fence or stone wall that surrounded the compound.  The fence would completely enclose the area to protect the livestock.  During the night all of the livestock would be brought into the fenced compound to protect them from wolves and theft. 

Since there were so much cattle within the compound, the land would be very fertile where the timber fence used to be.  Then the birds or wind would drop seeds in this area, and the trees would grow in a perfect circle exactly where the fortress used to be.  This is the reason for the seeing the circle of trees or the circle walls since it is where the Irish used to live in mini-fortresses.  These are called Ring Forts, or they are also known as Fairy Forts. The Irish are very superstitious of the fairies, and they do not interfere with them. They believe they are good beings and the farmers will never interfere with the fairy fort.  People do not go into the fairy forts, either. There are hundreds of them all over Ireland.  There are many pictures from above of all of the fairy forts. One, in particular, is a straight road that meets a fairy fort, and the road goes around it, not through it. Similar to the fairy trees, they are kept sacred by the Irish people.