The National Library of Ireland has just made available a collection of 34,000 historic photographs from 1860–1954. It includes a rich collection for the Pilgrim’s Way to St. Patrick’s Purgatory with photos of monuments at Dublin, Swords, Drogheda, Mellifont, Slane, Donaghmore, Kells, Castelkeeran [search “St. Kiernan’s Well”], Kilmore and Devenish.
Most exciting are the photos from Lough Derg [use advanced search, exact phrase and search “Lough Derg” and “Station Island”]. The search for “Lough Derg” results in many good views of the island and pictures of the 1913 visit of Cardinal Logue. The search for “Station Island” results in thirty-eight pictures, with pilgrims doing their rounds of prayer and many more good views of the island, including some interior shots.
Within the photos for Lough Derg (112), there are approximately eighteen photos that are actually Lough Derg in the River Shannon and not Donegal, but for most most part those are easy to identify, since they are also labeled “Holy Island.” (I've put an alert in to the NLI and expect that these will be fixed.)
