West of Ireland (4): Athenry, The Burren and Ennis

Several Medieval Fortifications, a Huge Limestone Pavement and a Sculpture Trail

Ireland

County Galway

Like Caesar’s Gaul, County Galway has three parts. To the west is Connemara, the land of mountains and bogs and, yesterday at least, semi-perpetual drizzle; in the narrow waist where the county is pinched by Loughh Corrib is the City of Galway itself and to the east, by far the largest part, is a green plain.

Athenry

Athenry is a small town/large village 20km east of Galway. I had not heard of it before Irish rugby crowds took to singing ‘The Fields of Athenry’ and if I had, I would probably have pronounced it stressing the first syllable and with a final ‘-ree’ as in ‘Henry’ instead of evenly stressed Ath-en-rye. The song, written in the 1970s by Pete St John is either a dreary ditty about the Irish Famine or one of those haunting, wistful Irish melodies that once heard cannot be forgotten – or both. Judge for yourself, Paddy Reilly and the Dubliners* sing it on YouTube here.

County Galway, Athenry, Kinvarra - the morning's journey

‘Low lie the fields of Athenry’ the chorus goes, and indeed they do - this is flat lowland farming country, not as picturesque as Connemara, but a much easier place to make a living. And, of course, an influx of tourists makes that living even easier; the song has certainly helped, but Athenry is also a fine place for connoisseurs of old stonework.

It can a grey dour looking place on a dour grey day…

Athernry clustered round St Mary's Church

…but the market square, which is by no means square, has the only market cross still in situ in Ireland, though all that remains is the badly damaged 15th century stump.

The Market Cross, Market Square, Atherny

Most of the 14th century town wall still stands, as do several towers and the North Gate which is busy advertising Galway’s bid to be European City of Culture in 2020.

North Gate, Athenry, The banner is in English on the other side, that's how I know what it says

The Priory of SS Peter and Paul, Athenry

The Priory of SS Peter and Paul is of similar vintage though it is not in good condition. Having limped on after Henry VIII’s Reformation it was finally destroyed by Cromwellian forces in the 1650s.

Priory of SS Peter and Paul, Athenry

Athenry Castle

Most impressive of all, and even older is Athenry’s castle, built by Meyler de Bermingham sometime before 1240. Part of the surrounding wall survives…

Tower and external wall, Athenry Castle

...and the forbidding, almost windowless keep is largely intact.

Keep, Athenry Castle

There is a little decoration on the arch over the doorway, but these places were not built to be welcoming…

Decoration on the door arch, Athenry Castle

…though almost 800 years later possessing an Irish Heritage Card will guarantee that you are greeted by a smiling face. The interior, cleaned up and restored, is much pleasanter, though it must have been cold living here.

Interior, Athenry Castle

Kinvarra

Having zigged east to Athenry, we zagged south west along a series of minor roads to the coast at Kinvarra (sometimes Kinvara).

Approaching the village we passed Dunguaire Castle a sixteenth century tower house and a stronghold of the O’Hynes. The castle had plenty of visitors, but having just come from Athenry Castle we left it for another time.

Dunguaire Castle across the water from Kinvarra dock

We parked by the dock in Kinvarra. It was once a thriving port exporting grain, but the famine of the 1840s all but destroyed the town and it is only in the last decades that the population has edged back above 1,000.

Kinvarra Harbour

Kinvarra has a music festival in May and the Meeting of the Boats in August which features hooker racing. Hooker racing, despite what some readers might imagine, is a respectable pastime; Galway hookers are the traditional red sailed boats of Galway Bay which feature prominently on the county crest - see the top of the page.

I wondered if the Fairy Queen in my picture of Dunguaire Castle was a Galway hooker. After 20 minutes googling I learned that it was originally a Loch Fyne skiff, built 1926 in Fraserburgh, North East Scotland, and now re-rigged as a gaff cutter, making it very like, though not quite, a Galway hooker.

There are words in that paragraph I do not understand, but I pass it on in good faith.

Kinvarra

Kinvarra is a pretty village and we had a stroll and a coffee before driving on into County Clare through Ballyvaughan to Newtown Castle on the edge of the limestone district known as The Burren.

South into County Clare

Newtown Castle

County Clare

Newtown Castle was not easy to find. Leaving the main road we drove through parkland surrounding the Burren College of Art - visitors are welcome though it felt like trespassing.

The castle (or, more properly, tower) was built in the 16th century for the O’Brien clan. There are 3,000 tower houses in Ireland of which only 30 are round and of these only Newtown has a pyramidical base. The tower was fully equipped to defend itself with arrow slits, gun loops and a murder hole – a trap door above the main entrance through which flower petals, animal dung or boiling oil could be dropped, depending on how welcome the visitors were.

Newtown Tower, near Ballyvaughan

The tower was restored in 1993-4 for use by the newly opened Burren College of Art and sits on the edge of the small, somewhat isolated campus. We climbed to the top where a gallery below the impressive new wooden roof provides exhibition space for the students.

The roof, Newtown Tower, near Ballyvaughan

The castle passed to the O’Loghlens; in 1838 it was inhabited by Charles O’Loghlen, 'King of the Burren’, and at the end of the century by Peter O’Loghlen who more modestly styled himself 'Prince of the Burren'. The surrounding 2,800ha was part of the Buckingham Estate until 1848 when it was sold after the spectacular bankruptcy of the splendidly over-named Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. He has featured in those blog before as the last member of the Temple family, four generations earlier the richest in England, to own Stowe House near Buckingham.

Richard Temple-......Grenville, Portrait by Richard James Lane (filched from Wikipedia)

We returned to Ballyvaughan for lunch – a sandwich and a cup of tea – and thus fortified headed into The Burren.

The Burren

The Burren, from the Irish Boireann meaning ‘great rock’, is a roughly defined area (250-300km²) of karst landscape in the uplands of County Clare. The Burren National Park occupies only a 15km² corner in the south east of the region.

About 60% of it is covered with limestone pavements. It is a landscape I am familiar with from the Yorkshire Dales and limestone country further west, occasional outbreaks in South Wales and from the Pelješac peninsula in Croatia, but the Burren has by far the largest limestone pavements I have ever seen.

Limestone pavements stretching away into the distance, The Burren

Poulnabrone Dolmen

It is poor country for farming, but the earliest inhabitants spotted its value for monumental structures. Some 70 megalithic tombs are dotted about the Burren; we could not find the Gleninsheen Wedge Tomb, but the Poulnabrone Dolmen, 8km from Ballyvaughan is well signed, near the road and has a large car park – with 200,000 visitors annually it needs it!

Poulnabrone Dolmen, The Burren

In 1985, the disassembling of the dolmen to repair a crack in one of the portal stones provided an opportunity for excavations. The remains of 33 individuals and their personal items were discovered, carbon dating suggested they were buried between 3,800 and 3,200BC.

Poulnabrone Dolmen, The Burren

Catherconnel Stone Fort

A kilometre further on is the Caherconnell Stone Fort, one of the best preserved stone ring forts in Ireland. The drystone circle has a diameter of 43m and the walls are 3m thick and 3m high, though loose stones suggest they may have been a metre higher. What surprised us was that despite there being the post holes of a Neolithic dwelling nearby, the ring fort was built in the 10th century and was occupied until the 17th. The Norman invasion never quite reached O’Loghlen country and the people continued living a medieval life into what is normally regarded as early modern times.

Inside Caherconnell Stone Fort

The stone fort hosts archaeological summer schools and while some students were digging just outside the main circle...

Archaelogical workers, Caherconell Stone Fort, The Burren

…. others did the less glamourous sieving and spraying.

The spraying and sieving has to be done, too, Caherconell Stone Fort, The Burren

Ennis

Ennis

We reached Ennis in late afternoon. With just 25,000 inhabitants it is mildly surprising that Ennis is County Clare’s largest population centre by far, but even more surprising, it is Ireland’s 11th biggest city.

Ennis Sculpture Trail

We had a little difficulty finding our way into the centre which retains its medieval road plan and a little more leaving it to reach our B&B. After freshening up and armed with our friendly landlady’s recommendations for dinner we walked back into the centre. Ennis is proud of its sculpture trail and we passed a pensive soldier on the wall of the former barracks….

Soldier outside the barracks, Ennis

…hands outside the cathedral…

Hands outside the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, Ennis

…and farm workers on a roundabout.

Farm workers on a roundabout, Ennis

O’Connell Street is narrow but colourful with hanging baskets and painted façades. It terminates in a square where Daniel O’Connell has balanced on top of a Doric column since 1867. The ‘Great Liberator’ who also has a statue in Dublin in the street named after him, was a Dublin MP in the British House of Commons from 1836-41 but before that he had been MP for Clare. I took my picture facing the other way, so you will have to imagine the monument (it looks just like you think it would).

O'Connell Street, Ennis

Brogan’s was ram-packed. Unwilling to wait an hour for a table, we walked up to The Old Ground, an even bigger pub and apparently even more crowded but we were warmly greeted, asked to have a drink at the bar and told a table would be ready in ten minutes. We never believed ‘ten minutes’ but the room was being worked by an expert who knew the state of every table and remembered the faces of those waiting and the order in which they had arrived. It was an impressive performance and if it took thirty, rather than ten minutes it mattered little as we were watching hurling on the television. It is not an easy game for the uninitiated, but is full of breathlessly paced crash bang action.

Once seated, the service was efficient. My pork with black pudding, red onion gravy and spring onion mash was hearty Irish fare, and I was ready for it by then. Lynne enjoyed her quiche and chips.

By the time we had finished, the pressure on tables had eased, a band was playing traditional music and though full of food and Guinness we felt little desire to leave. I have never been a fan of Irish whiskey, but when in Ireland….. A glass of Jameson’s slipped down a treat – my opinion might need reassessing so more research is needed.

28/07/16

We remained in Ennis for the first half of the morning, strolling to the town centre and along the River Fergus until the friary opened at 10.00 – we were determined to turn a profit on our Heritage Cards.

Lynne by the River Fergus, Ennis

Ennis Friary

Ennis Franciscan Friary dates from the 1240s and, like much else locally, was founded by the O’Briens. After the suppression of the monasteries it was put to other uses and is now in part a ruin.

Ennis Friary

The best carvings are in the restored section where the 15th century canopy tomb of the MacMahon clan…

Canopy tomb, Ennis Friary

…and Christ’s Pity, both carved in the hard local limestone, are preserved from the elements. The Christ’s Pity or Ecce Homo shows Christ bound and surrounded by the accoutrements of crucifixion.

Ecce Homo, Ennis Friary

And finally….

Post box, Ennis

…we have seen British-style post boxes all over the world in places where once there was British influence, but this is not ‘British-style’ this is the real thing It still bears the Royal Mail crown and the EviiR logo, dating it to the reign of Edward VII, 1901-10. The once red box has, of course, been sanitised by a coat of green paint.

*You might like to search for the version by Serbian band Orthodox Celts. It is worse than Frank Sinatra’s On the Road to Mandalay, (blog post here) that was the right singer with the wrong song, this is simply wrong.

The West of Ireland

Part 1: Galway

Part 2: Connemara in the Mist and the Rain
Part 3: Loam, Fine Dining in Galway
Part 4: Athenry, The Burren and Ennis
 Part 5: Adare, Listowel and on to Tralee
Part 6: The Dingle Peninsula
Part 7: Killarney to Kenmare
Part 8: Ardfert, Flying-boats and Limerick

West of Ireland (1): Galway

Featuring a Stroll Round Ireland's West Coast Party City

Shannon Airport: A Former Pioneer Fighting Back from Irrelevance

Ireland

County Clare

For us, the West of Ireland started at Shannon, the airport that time forgot. Trans-Atlantic air services started in the 1930s with flying boats taking off and landing in the Shannon estuary. In 1936, realising that flying boats would soon be obsolete but that this was still the nearest piece of Europe to North America, the Irish government started building an airport on a patch of boggy ground near the river. By 1945 they were ready for the start of the aviation boom and in 1947 introduced the concept of ‘duty free’ shopping. Eventually improving aircraft rendered Shannon’s location irrelevant, though half of all flights between Dublin and the US included a Shannon stop-over until the Open Skies agreement of 2007. Passenger numbers then plummeted but the airport fought back, upgrading the terminal and attracting seasonal services to European holiday destinations. In 2009 Shannon secured some transatlantic trade by becoming the first European airport to offer pre-clearance of America's notoriously long winded immigration and customs procedure. I shall gloss over Shannon’s controversial use as a stop-over for American troop planes and for ‘special rendition’ flights.

Gort, County Galway

We picked up our hire car and headed for the M18 north towards Galway. The motorway ends after less than 40 km near Gort and we decided to drive into the small town for coffee.

Shannon, Gort and Galway

County Galway

The approach to Gort felt surprisingly familiar. From many angles Ireland looks not unlike Great Britain; the cars drive on the left, the signage uses the same colours and the countryside is broadly similar. The approach to Gort was like driving into Porthcawl - a comparison that came to us independently and simultaneously - or any other small seaside town in South Wales with buildings of rendered and white-washed stone

Parking in the wide main street, we crossed the road to O'Connor's Coffee Shop and Bakery.

In 2014, on our first ever visit to Ireland we noticed that after centuries of Irish emigration, Dublin was now welcoming incoming migrants. We had not expected this also to be true of a small town in the far west, but as of 2011, 400 of Gort’s two and a half thousand residents are Brazilians working in meat packing, doing the same jobs as at home but for much higher wages. And sure enough, the first language we heard in the street was Portuguese.

The coffee shop was packed with locals and tourists. The coffee was fine and the bakery would have repaid investigation, but sharing a rock bun, served with butter and jam was all we could manage.

There is little else to see in Gort except the small triangular town square (and how many are actually square?). It had one of those impossibly bright Irish pubs that are imitated throughout the world...

Johnny Walsh's, Market Square, Gort

...and in the middle of the square is a well restored late 18th century market weighhouse.

The Market Weigh House, Gort

The City of Galway

The City of Galway

We continued up the N18 to Galway and after a little doubt about where we actually were found our B&B and they kindly checked us in early.

Selecting an appropriate Irish pub in a city full of them, (not to mention pubs that look like cafés and jewellers that looked like pubs) provoked unnecessary dithering, but eventually we settled on the appropriate place for a bowl of soup (me) and my first encounter with the excellent Irish soda bread and a ham sandwich (Lynne). Murphy's stout made a change from Guinness but to my palate its bitterness was a little more aggressive than I like.

Eyre Square to Lynch's Window

Central Galway from the JF Kennedy Garden in Eyre Square and south through the pedestrianised districts is awash with foreigners of all hues. We heard more European languages than we can recognise and English spoken in the accents of three continents, only Antarctica seemed unrepresented. The vast majority were, like us, tourists, but there were also those who had drifted as far west as they could without wetting their feet and were now holding up signs or inhabiting sandwich boards advertising tattoo parlours, pizzerias or hair stylists.

JF Kennedy Garden, Galway

There were buskers too, everything from a five piece band with guitars, bass and drums to an old man sitting on a doorstep playing the spoons, all placed just so far apart that as one faded to quietness the next swelled to fill the space.

Pedestrianised street, Galway, Some wrapped up warm for an Irish summer, others looked at the calendar, found it was July and wore shorts

Apart from the tourists there is not a vast amount to see in Galway, visitors come to enjoy the relaxed charm of a friendly city where every summer day is spent building up to yet another party night.

Beyond the flowers of the Kennedy gardens are a rusting sculpture of dubious charm,...

A rusting sculpture of dubious charm, Eyre Square, Galway

...,the re-erected 16th century façade of the 'Browne House' which looks a little out of place, and the flags of the fourteen 'tribes of Galway'; the families who ran the city for several centuries.

The flags of the Tribes of Galway with the façade of the Browne House (side on) behind

Strolling south into pedestrian streets we soon encountered Lynch's Castle, Galway’s only remaining medieval secular building. Dating from the late fifteenth century (though much changed over the years) it belonged to the Lynch’s one of the most important of the 14 tribes. It now houses a branch of the Allied Irish bank.

Lynch's 'Castle', Galway

Lynch's window, just south of the pedestrian area, is another piece of Lynch memorabilia. Built in the 19th century, it is a confection of 15th and 17th architectural styles, but the window (top left) is reputed to come from an earlier Lynch house and to be the very window in the story below.

Lynch's Window, Galway

James Lynch, a 15th century Mayor of Galway sent his son to Spain, captaining one of his own ships, to purchase wine. Before the purchase was made the money designated for it had been spent and young Lynch had to use his father’s name to gain credit. The Spanish merchant sent his nephew back to Ireland with young Lynch to collect the debt, but afraid to face his father, Lynch persuaded the crew to join him in throwing the Spaniard overboard. Later a death bed confession by one of the sailors led to young Lynch’s arrest and as Lynch senior was the mayor and magistrate he had to try his own son. He found the young man guilty and sentenced him to death.

On the day of the execution crowds made it impossible for the prisoner and escort to reach the gallows, so the mayor took his son home, tied a rope round his neck and launched him from the window so justice could be done and seen to be done. Some Galwegians claim this is the origin of the term ‘lynching’, but although it was a killing with bizarre elements, it was not the sort of killing the word has come to be associated with.

St Nicholas' Church and Sheridan's Cheese Shop

Behind Lynch's window is St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church dating from 1320 and a rather ugly building from the outside, though it is better inside. The biggest church in this overwhelmingly catholic city, it was once the catholic cathedral but since Henry VIII’s reformation it has belonged to what is now the Church of Ireland, a member of the Anglican Communion. The memorial to the men of Galway who died in the First World War lists an unusually large proportion of officers, which may be something to do with it being the church of the protestant ascendancy.

Inside St Nicholas' Church, Galway

Opposite is Sheridan's Cheese shop. That Galway is a foodie city might not always be obvious, but Sheridan's is one of its leading lights. The display of cheese, including a magnificent array of Irish artisan cheeses, is fascinating and fragrant. They also do an extensive variety of charcuterie, much of it locally produced.

Across the River Corrib and 'Home' via the Latin Quarter

Leaving the pedestrian area we walked south, crossing the Corrib River which flows swiftly through the town, the torrent augmented by canals feeding it from either side. The Galway Museum is near here but it was late in the afternoon, we had left home at 5.30 and were beginning to flag, so we did not bother to look for it.

The River Corrib, Galway

We did not find the 'Spanish Arch' either, but odd remnants of the city's medieval walls were easy to spot.

Section of the city wall, Galway

We walked back via the Latin Quarter, an area of yet more cafés and restaurants. Back in William Street, Lynne took a breather sitting between Oscar Wilde and his contemporary and near namesake, the Estonian writer Eduard Vilde.

Lynne with Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde, Galway

Dinner at Murty Rabitt's

In the evening we made a short walk to Murty Rabbitt's. English pub names have, or pretend to have, a historical context while the Irish prefer eponyms, but do the names - Johnny Walsh’s, Foxy John's, Nancy Myles’ - relate to the present owner, a historical owner or are they marketing fictions? Probably there are examples of all three, but Murty Rabbitt's has an explanatory note on the final page of the menu (basic pub food, well presented and reasonably priced).

Murty Rabbitt's Galway

Cormac O' Coinin returned home after making his fortune in the California gold rush. He first bought a flour mill, and when that burned down purchased a pub and grocers [we saw this combination several times during our sojourn] in 1872. On Cormac's death the pub passed to his son Peter who anglicised the family name to Rabbitt* (Coinin is Irish for rabbit) and then to his son and in 1955 to his grandson Murtagh. According to the menu the pub is now run by Murty’s son, and Cormac’s great-great-grandson, John. Another source says it was sold by the family in 2007.

Folk duo, Murty Rabbitt's, Galway

We had an entertaining evening, the food was all we required, the drink was good and the extended family in the booth behind, who had been in residence long enough for inhibitions to be lowered, entertained us with open warfare. Later a duo sang, not for once traditional Irish music, but what, in the 70s, we used to call 'contemporary folk'. A good evening was had by all.

*Was the deed was done before 1902 when Beatrix Potter changed forever the perception of the name 'Peter Rabbit'?

The West of Ireland

Part 1: Galway

Part 2: Connemara in the Mist and the Rain

Part 3: Loam, Fine Dining in Galway

Part 4: Athenry, The Burren and Ennis
Part 5: Adare, Listowel and on to Tralee
Part 6: The Dingle Peninsula
Part 7: Killarney to Kenmare

Part 8: Ardfert, Flying-boats and Limerick