Roadside Shrines and Grottoes
Near Dingle, photo by ktylerconk
Nobody can travel for any distance in Ireland without encountering a roadside shrine or grotto.
They vary from just a small statue set into a wall, to large, elaborately constructed tableaux and the vast majority are Marian Shrines, although some celebrate local saints and others, such as the one on the left, depict the crucifixion.
In spite of the documented drift away from organised religion that has taken place in Ireland over the past few decades, they are almost invariably well tended and often bedecked with fresh flowers.
Many are close to Holy Wells, places now associated with Christian saints but whose origins almost certainly date back to pagan times, and other are situated in places that have significance locally that long predates the shrines themselves.
Featured image: Grotto in Mitchelstown by Kman999
1954 – The Marian Year
Marian shrine, near Aughrim in Wicklow, by jaqian
Although a few date from the early part of the 20th century, most of these shrines date from 1954, which was dedicated by the Vatican as a Marian Year, a year of celebration of and devotion to Mary.
Probably no other country embraced this year with greater fervour than Ireland.
As well as erecting hundreds of shrines commemorative stamps were issued, the Irish named many girls born that year Marian or Mary.
The number of young women entering convents soared and on May 16th 30,000 people marched through the centre of Dublin to celebrate Queenship of Mary.
Grotto in Inishown, Donegal. By IrishFireside
The tradition of devotion to Mary persisted after 1954, albeit among ever declining numbers, though it is one now confined mainly to an older generation.
When I was at boarding school in the 1970s we rose early each morning in May (the month of Mary), went outside to a Marian Shrine in the school grounds and there, although barely awake, sang hymns in praise of Mary.
It didn’t exactly fill us with glee at the time, but I seriously doubt you would get any group of teenage girls to do that to-day!
It is a sign of the times that there was another Marian Year in the late 1980s which passed pretty much unnoticed by the bulk of the Irish population.
Still, in almost every parish, there is a dedicated band of people who maintain the shrines and grottoes which have become part of our landscape and our heritage.
Moving Statues
In 1985 a phenomenon occurred which grabbed news headlines around the world, became a topic of conversation all across the country and, for a time at least, saw a resurgence of interest in Marian Shrines.
Statues moved.
Moving statue? By Addictive Picasso
Or at least many people believed they did, and flocked in their thousands night after night to experience these ‘miracles’.
Others remained skeptical, attributing what people saw to an optical illusion brought about by staring intently at a statue lit up in the twilight against a dark background.
The phenomenon began when local people reported that the statue of Mary at a grotto in Ballinspittle in Co Cork (shown here) moved.
Crowds gathered on subsequent evenings and many of those present, who had often travelled considerable distances, reported seeing movement.
In rapid succession reports came in of similar phenomena at shrines all over the country, until eventually just about every part of Ireland had its very own moving statue.
And then almost as suddenly as it began, it seemed to end. People moved on and there was little mention of or interest in the shrines outside those who had been there anyway before the curious crowds arrived.
Visiting Shrines & Grottos in Ireland
There is little need to direct anyone to a particular place to see a shrine or grotto – you will just see them, they really are everywhere!
Although I was only 10, I always feel slightly embarrassed for my country when I think back on the time of the moving statues.
The country really was in thrall to a very backward, parochial, superstitious and absurd Catholicism. No divorce. No condoms. It was weird.
No wonder northern Protestants were having none of it (although they had their own absurd idolatries).
Ireland these days is far from perfect, We can’t honestly say that everything has improved for everyone. But I’m glad to say that probably the majority of Irish people would look back on this, cringe, wonder ‘what the hell were we thinking?’ and get on with modern life.
The idea of the separation of Church and State may look good on paper, but, Ireland, I’m here to tell you, unless you want to end up like the United States–where every crackpot philosophy and bizarre religious sytem is permitted to exist and flourish without restraint EXCEPT Christianity (which principles the US was founded on, like it or not), then keep heading down the road you’re on. We (America) are a complete mess these days, and I blame it on the erosion of our morals derived from our Christian heritage. I’m not saying absolute parochialsim is the way to go, but the total opposite is no good, either. It’s not too late for the Irish…!!
I could get into an argument over whether morals are the perogitive of Christians or not, but this is not the time or the place.
*sigh* It’s impossible to have a place to post where someone doesn’t come out with random religious fanaticism. regardless these really are not the places.
On a more relavant note, however, In New Jersey (US of course) we have a legend of a moving jesus statue. I believe it’s in a cemetary in Middletown, nj or somewhere near there. supposedly if you pull into the cemetery in your car at night and find this gigantic jesus statue and flick your lights at it you see it move.
I’d love to know how many of these monstrosities have planning permission. And by extension, how many could be legally torn down. They’re a blight on the landscape, though with all the ghost estates, there’s little hope for the Irish countryside these days. West Cork seems particularly badly afflicted. Ever been to Ballinadee? Just a few miles from the infamous Ballinspittle. The whole village is dominated by an enormous wall with a “Virgin” Mary statue embedded in it. Just like the Russians building gigantic states of Stalin and Mother Russia, Ireland was a land in thrall to an absurdity, and it’s people were completely delusional.
And it wasn’t just in the fifties. I remember one being built in Stillorgan, Co. Dublin in the late eighties, just across from the shopping centre. Sometimes, getting off the 46A, you’d see a huddle of middle aged and elderly folk crowded around it, praying to a statue. No wonder the country is a shambles.
I was one of of those people who DID actually see the statue move in Ballinspittle …It was not my imagination….and have never forced anyone to believe me. I know what I saw and it was a mirice !!!! I was about 15 at the time and am now 40 and when I have my doubts about religion I always think of what I saw that day….And I am not expecting anyone to believe me x x