 |
| Don't Walk Under the Trinity Bell Tower when Bell Tolls! |
This
is Part 16 of our Ireland Trip blog, and our walking history tour with Garvan.
We call this blog: Trinity College and a Ghostly Legend. Garvan was our "Dublin Tour Guide" and you can find
him at www.dublintourguide.ie/.
TRINITY COLLEGE- One of the stops during the tour of important places in Dublin was Trinity College. Trinity College, known in full as the College of the Holy and
Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth. It's a research
university and the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin
in Ireland. It was founded in 1592!
BELL-TOLLING SUPERSTITION - Garvan told us that students are told not to walk under the bell tower in the Front Square. Because if the bell tolls while someone is under it, they will fail your exams.
 |
| copy of Book of Kells |
WHY WAS TRINITY COLLEGE ESTABLISHED? It was set up in part to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, and it was seen as the university of the Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history. It is is located on College Green, opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament.
WHAT IS THE BOOK OF KELLS AT THE COLLEGE? - The Book of Kells is an ornate/artistic manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Britain or Ireland or may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created around 800 AD. It's kept in the university under glass.
It's a big attraction there. The day we were there, there was a long line of people waiting to see it. We skipped it and caught a copy of it in another building that Garvan took us into (off-campus).
 |
| Standing in one of Trinity College's squares |
THE GHOSTLY DARK FIGURE -Trinity college is known for a dark shadow figure that walks around outside in the college "squares."
According to the book "Haunted Ireland" published by Picture Press, the ghost is that of Dr. Samuel Clossey.
Clossey was the head of the College's practice of medicine from 1786 to 1803. He is Reputed to have dug up corpses from graves to conduct medical experiments on them. In addition, there's a story that two of his medical students went missing and were suspected of being killed by the doctor.
The ghostly figure is reputed to be carrying a case containing medical instruments in one hand, and a sack full of body parts in another hand.
UPKEEP OF THE BUILDINGS - While we were walking through the college "squares" we saw construction workers installing new cobblestones. It was pretty impressive how they had to take measurements over and over again and carefully place the cobblestones one at a time. It seems like a process that takes a long time!
 |
| Builders were actually laying new cobblestones on campus |
