Mungret Monastery Traditional Cache
omahonyd: Not in a position to continue maintenance.
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Size: 
(regular)
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This ancient monastic site was founded by St. Munchin, patron of the Diocese of Limerick and dates back to the Fifth Century. It soon became an important centre of learning and had, at one point, over 1,500 students. Its fame for education is illustrated in the story of the learned monks who travelled to the monastery to check if the monks there were as wise as reported. Some of the monks played a prank on the visitors by dressing as washerwomen doing their laundry by a local stream. As the visitors passed by the 'washerwomen' spoke to each other in fluent Greek and Hebrew! The visitors, hearing such learning from local women, grew frightened of their task and left the area! The monastic site is near Mungret village, which has a large cement factory beside it, visible from many parts of the city and surrounds. The entrance to the monastic site is via a narrow winding road requiring careful driving. (Turn off at N52 38.108 W008 40.486) A visual cue to the road entrance is a roofless stone building with steep gables, once part of the monastery complex, beside the main road and close to Quinn’s Cross roundabout. After 160 metres, the road expands into a car park outside the ‘new’ cemetery. The fine grey building on the hill to the left is Mungret College, where the Jesuit fathers continued the tradition of education for over a century, until the college moved to new facilities in the early 1970s. The cache is placed to facilitate wheelchair accessibility.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ghpxrq va oruvaq gur jnyy!