Belvedere House aand Longford Cathederal June 2018


Our Day trip to Longford Cathedral – June 2018



Our lovely warm sunny weather seemed to have come to an end as 50 of our members boarded the bus on June 13th and headed for Belvedere House and Longford Cathedral. After an hour’s drive we arrived at the home of “that Wicked Earl” the first Earl of Belvedere, Robert Rochford. The house was built in 1740 as a hunting lodge. Robert gained notoriety for imprisoning his second wife , Mary Molesworth ,for 31 years on a spurious charge of infidelity. This magical estate is now owned by Westmeath Co. Council.

The clouds parted and the rain stayed away while we spent some time exploring the old house and lovely gardens. After a welcome tea/coffee break we continued on our journey to Longford.

The beautiful St. Mel’s Cathedral is well worth a visit. It was completely destroyed by fire on Dec 25th 2009. Some of the country’s most priceless artefacts were burned to cinders. One remarkable painting of the Holy Family survived. It was restored at a cost of 30 million and attracts thousands of visitors.

After all this sight seeing, we were ready to enjoy a lovely dinner in the Longford Arms Hotel. For some, I believe the boutiques along the way were too tempting to pass.!!

We arrived home safely having enjoyed another day’s outing in our lovely country. Looking forward to the next one in July P.G.

 



Chris O’Flynn (P.R.O.) June 2018




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