This site partly owes its existence to the book “In Ruins The Once Great Houses of Ireland” by Simon Marsden and Duncan McLaren. It was the purchase of this book, while holidaying in Ireland, that inspired our first “Ruin Hunt”. Before this, ruins were merely a discovery to be investigated, albeit with great glee, rather than the reason for an exploration, journey or even holiday!

So, most of the ruins featured on this site were found thanks to this book. We have of course taken our own pictures, although Simon Marsden's photographs were taken using infrared photography, a technique which lends itself to buildings smothered in ivy and surrounded by greenery. 

Thanks must also be extended to Pete Schermerhorn who, through his interest in infrared photography and the work of Simon Marsden, has tracked down the map reference of each site in “In Ruins” and listed them on the CoCam infrared photography web site http://www.cocam.co.uk/CoCamWS/Infrared/EIRhouses.htm This, although reducing the need for a full “hunt”, made the discovery of some of the more elusive ruins a lot easier!