Rockfleet / Carraigahowley Castle (Carraig an Chabhlaigh), is an 18m Tower House built in the mid-C16th on the shore of Clew Bay by “Iron Dick” Burke, second husband of Gráinne Mhaill / Grace O’Malley, the seafaring Elizabethan era chieftain of the Ui Mhaille / O’Malley clan and “Pirate Queen”, who probably died here c. 1603. Painstakingly restored by its American owner in the 1950s, it is a gem not to be missed, providing fascinating insights into the lifestyle of its former inhabitants. Admission is free.
Roigh Pier, erected in the early C19th, was long renowned for its herring fishing boats and the ferrying of turf to the many inhabited islands of Clew Bay, and is now used by craft available for fishing trips and excursions to Clare Island etc.
Tiernaur & Mulranny(Co. Mayo / West)
Tiernaur is a quiet coastal community on the north shore of Clew Bay.
Killeen cemetery contains a very old burial ground surrounded by stone and an altar where Saint Brendan is said to have prayed. St Brendan’s Well is on the adjacent shoreline; legend has it that it used to be located in the graveyard until the devil tried to throw it into the sea.
St Brendan’s church (RC), erected to replace an C18th building sponsored by the McLaughlin family, is a striking modern edifice (see Photo)
Newfield House was the C18th residence of the McLaughlin family, and later of James Hunter, a local landlord who was shot dead close to the Newfield Inn in 1869. His house was left uninhabited and subsequently fell into ruins; the staff quarters are still visible.
Nevins Newfield Inn, established in the mid-C18th, is is one of the oldest hostelries in Mayo. Purchased by its present owners in 1971, it is now a friendly pub / restaurant / B&B, highly rated for its excellent food and accommodation facilities.
The Tiernaur Loop Walks comprise three signposted rural walking routes of varying length, each with fine views of Clew Bay and the Nephin Beg mountain range.
Rosturk Castle is splendid Victorian pile scenically set on a wooded headland, surrounded by miles of sand at low tide and at other times by wonderfully clear shallow water. Long the home of the Stoney family, the castle is available for self-catering holidays.
Rosturk Woods comprises two attractive modern houses with leafy grounds on the shore of Clew Bay, available for self-catering holidays.
Mulranny / Malaranny / Mallaranny / Mullaranny / Mullranny (an Mhala Raithní – “the hill-brow of the ferns”), a seaside resort popular for its long sandy beaches and scenic golf links, with number of pleasant B&Bs, good pubs and eateries.
Situated on the isthmus between Clew Bay and Bellacagher Bay, where the warm Gulf Stream from Mexico hits Ireland’s Atlantic coast, Mulranny has a special micro-climate that supports many exotic plants, notably colourful giant fuchsias.
The Great Western / Mulranny Park Hotel
The Great Western Hotel, Mulranny, designed by Dublin architects Sir Thomas Deane & Son,was opened amidst much fanfare in 1897 by the Midland Great Western Railway Co. as a luxury destination on the Westport – Achill Island extension; combined rail and hotel tickets were available from Dublin and other towns. The hotel was equipped with every modern convenience of the time, including electric light, and by 1900 hot and cold water baths were also available. Tennis courts and an outdoor swimming pool were added in later years.
Despite the closure of the railway line in 1937, the Mulranny hotel remained prosperous due to its spectacular location; famous guests including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who visited in June 1968. It later changed ownership and went downhill until its 1990 closure, after which it lay sadly derelict until purchased by the present owners in 2003.
The Mulranny Park Hotel**** opened in March 2005 and, while fully refurbished and modernised, retains the character and charm of the original establishment. Set on 42 acres of landscaped woodland grounds, it is renowned for its comfortable accommodation (suites, rooms and lodges), superb food and wonderful views across Clew Bay‘s myriad islands to Croagh Patrick.
The Victorian Causeway, built across Trawoughter Bay in 1899 to provide access for hotel guests to Mulranny’s broad sheltered blue flag beach and excursion boat pier, links the village to the spectacular local marine coastal environment, including the Rosmurrevagh Machair and Mulranny Salt Marsh, home to a wealth of flora and fauna, particularly Orchids, sea lavender and the spectacular “Sea Pink” that carpets the entire marsh in the month of May. Commonly spotted birds include Curlew, Widgeon, Grey Plover, Godwits, Oyster Catchers, Dunlins, Sand Pipers, Terns, Gulls and wintering Brent Geese.
The church of the Immaculate Conception (RC), a colourful Hiberno-Romanesque style building, dates from 1906.
The Mallaranny Mediterranean Heather Festival celebrating local plant life is held each summer.
Sir Ernest Chain (1906-1979), the Berlin-born British biochemist who developed the application of penicillin and was awarded the Nobel prize for Medicine along with Sir Alexander Fleming in 1945, had a holiday home in Mulranny. He died locally and has a road named after him in Castlebar.
Desmond Llewelyn, another celebrity home owner in Mulranny, is probably most famous for his role as “Q” in the 007 James Bond movies.
Mulranny is home to a herd of rare native Old Irish Goats.
Mulranny is the mainland point of access to the Curraun Peninsula and Achill Island
(The Great Western Greenway‘s westernmost section, linking Mulranny with Achill Sound, follows the route of the old Westport – Achill Island railway around the northern coast of the Curraun Peninsula).
Castlehill is the location of several items of archaeological interest, including a wedge-shaped tomb, a cist frame and a cross-inscribed stone.
Claggan Mountain (Sliabh na Cloigne – ‘mountain of the skull / skull-shaped top’) (501m) in the Nephin Beg range overlooks the beautiful Glennamaddoo Valley to the east and shares its name with the coastal district facing the Corraun Peninsula to the west.
Claggan / St Fintany’s cemetery, located in a picturesque wooded setting on a steep hillside, overlooking an ocean inlet behind Achill Island and Innishbiggle, encloses an atmospherically ruined chapel and “Saint Fintany’s House“.
The Rock House, built c. 1822, was long owned by the Clive family, distinguished British army officers and Parliamentarians, who planted approximately 29ha of forest, including numerous exotic species, now beautifully matured. In 1986 Jacques Maillet and his son Jean Claude purchased The Rock House and some 300 acres of woodlands, blanket bog, stretches of the Rivers Owenduff and Ballyveeney fisheries and shooting rights to approximately 32,000 acres. They refurbished and converted The Rock House and adjacent Fuschia Lodge to provide high quality Guesthouse accommodation and great French food for guests, with special emphasis on wilderness fishing and shooting, The Rock House won the prestigious RDS Biodiversity Award in 2002.
Ballycroy (Co. Mayo / West)
Ballycroy (Baile Chruaich), sometimes called Croy, is a hilly coastal district in the old barony of Erris. It claims to be “the largest area in Ireland“, taking in 36 townlands, and features a remarkable range of scenery. (Photos)
The district is famed for the excellent game fishing to be had on the Rivers Owenduff / Ballycroyand Tarsaghaunmore. During the early spring months, Ballycroy experiences a unique run of salmon which makes for exceptional sport, attracting anglers from all over the world.
Ballycroy history
Though nowadays very sparsely populated, Ballycroy has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times, as evidenced by numerous artefacts, and has seen large influxes of people, especially during the Norman invasion, when the Barrett family gained control of much of Erris, and after the Nine Years War, when many Ulster families were displaced to this part of Mayo.
The latter, with surnames such as McSweeney, O’Gallagher, O’Friel, Mc Ginty, Campbell, Murray, Mc Gowan etc.,were led by the O’Donnell chieftains, who had a major influence in the development of Ballycroy even after moving to Newport through their land agent Clendinning. In 1838 the immigrants’ descendants still spoke a northern dialect of Irish and were known to their neighbours as Ultaigh / Ulstermen.
The Great Famine ended such social differences; many locals died and the district began to lose people to emigration. Traces of numerous pre-Famine swellings are still visible.
Ballycroy church (CoI), built c.1850, is an atmospheric ruin with an interesting memorial plaque on the bell tower to a British army officer’s wife. (Photo)
The church of the Holy Family (RC) is a C19th edifice with a bright modern interior.
Ballycroy Community Centre, built entirely by volunteers, is a popular local amenity used for meetings, classes and functions.
Pat O’Connor‘s superb 1982 RTE adaptation of William Trevor‘s short story, The Ballroom of Romance, starring Brenda Fricker, John Kavanagh and Mick Lally, was filmed locally, using the now derelict dance hall at Doona Cross.
Fahy Lough is off the beaten track.
Fahy is the location of ruined church, thought to date from the C16th / C17th by a 1942 Tourism Surveyor, who reported that the tradition of leaving clay pipes on the graves in the adjoining cemetery still survived.
Fahy Strand was where the Spanish Armada ship, La Rata Santa Maria Encoronada (35 guns), beached on 21st September 1588.
Fahy / Doona Castle, where Don Alonso de Leyva and the 419-man crew of the wrecked ship set up camp before moving to The Mullet and boarding another Spanish vessel, is nowadays most remarkable for its former tower, eroded by wind and rain to a bizarre stump. (Photo)
Doona church, built c.1300 and altered c.1700, is now a roofless ruin. The original purpose of the adjacent ruin is unclear. (Photo)
Bunmore (An Bun Mór – ‘the big bottom’, i.e. boggy lowland) is the location of Temple Eunna, said to have been founded by a follower of Saint Patrick; the church, probably dating from the C8th / C9th AD, is now in very ruinous condition. The adjacent Holy Well used to be visited regularly by pregnant women to help ensure a safe delivery, and even though the patron saint of the well long forgotten, a “pattern” of sorts was held every 15th August.
Ballycroy National Park
“Indeed the Nephinbeg range of mountains is I think the very loneliest place in this country, for the hills themselves are encircled by this vast area of trackless bog, I confess I find such a place not lonely or depressing but inspiriting. You are thrown at the same time back upon yourself and forward against the mystery and majesty of nature.”
Robert Lloyd Praeger, The Way That I Went (1937)
Ballycroy National Park, Ireland’s sixth National Park, established in November 1998, comprises 11,000 hectares of Atlantic blanket bog and mountainous terrain, covering a vast uninhabited wilderness dominated by the Nephin Beg mountains, including the highest summit in the range, Slieve Carr (721m), and traversed by the Bangor Trail.
The Owenduff Bog to the west of the mountains is one of the last intact active blanket bog systems in Ireland and Western Europe and is an important scientific and scenic feature of the National Park.
The Park also protects a variety of other habitats such as alpine heath, upland grassland, lakes and river catchments. Fauna include Otters, Red Deer, feral goats, , Golden plover, Red Grouse and Greenland White-fronted geese.
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The Scardaun Loughs, Black Lough and Corslieve Lough hold good stocks of brown trout. The fishing access to these lakes is private.
Shean Lodge, at the geographical centre of Ballycroy. shares its name with the Shean Rock, a nearby lookout point. The artist Paul Henry (1876 – 1958) lived here for two years while working for the Congested Districts Board, and the great Irish tenor Count John McCormack (1884 -1945) spent fishing holidays here in the 1930s. Owned by the Craigie family since 1945, the modernised lodge and its extensive fishery are available to keen anglers during the fishing season and to nature lovers at other times of year, with self-catering accommodation for up to 14 adults.
The Ballycroy National Park Visitors Centre, a striking modern building with magnificent views, houses informative displays and videos of local people talking about the history and customs of Ballycroy. Wardens on site to answer questions about the local flora and fauna, and there is a pleasant cafeteria. Open from Easter till the end of October. admission free.
Srahnamanragh Bridge, spanning the Owenduff River near its mouth, is next to Croy Lodge, another of Lord Sligo‘s fishing lodges, once occupied by the writer William Hamilton Maxwell (1792-1850), failed clergyman, prankster and author of the wonderful Wild sports of the West (1851).