Page 215 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

THE WEST OF IRELAND  213

e Cong where a bell rang in the kitchen
when a fish took the bait.
Road map B3. Co Mayo. * 350. @
n Old Courthouse (094 954 6542). Just south of Cong is Ashford
Open Mar–Oct: daily. Castle, rebuilt in Gothic Revival
∑ congtourism.com style in 1870 by Lord Ardilaun of
the Guinness family. One of
This picturesque village lies on Ireland’s best hotels (see p300),
the shores of Lough Corrib, just its grounds can be visited by
within County Mayo. Cong boat from Galway and Ought-
means isthmus – the village lies erard. Cong was the setting for
on the strip of land between The Quiet Man, the 1950s’ film
Lough Corrib and Lough Mask. starring John Wayne.
During the 1840s, as a famine
relief project, a canal was built
linking the two lakes, but the r Lough Corrib
water drained through the Road map B3. Co Galway. @ from
porous limestone bed. Stone Galway and Cong. g from Ough t- View over Lough Corrib from the shore
bridges and stone-clad locks are e rard, Cong and Wood Quay, Galway. northwest of Oughterard
still in place along the dry canal.
Cong Abbey lies close to the An angler’s paradise, Lough and the battlemented Menlo
main street. The Augustinian Corrib offers the chance to fish Castle. Longer cruises continue
abbey was founded in the early with local fishermen for brown to Cong or include picnics
12th century by Turlough trout, salmon, pike, perch and on the islands.
O’Connor, King of Connaught eels. Despite its proximity
and High King of Ireland. to Galway, the lake is Environs
The abbey has door- tranquil, dotted with On the banks of Lough Corrib,
ways in a style uninhabited islands Oughterard is known as
transitional between and framed by “the gateway to Connemara”.
Roman esque and meadows, reed- The village has craft shops,
Gothic, stone carv- beds and wooded thatched cottages and friendly
ings and restored shores. The water- pubs. It is also an important
cloisters. The Cross side is home to centre for golf, angling, hiking
of Cong, an ornate swans and coots. and pony trekking. Towards
proces sional cross On Inchagoill, one Galway City, Brigit’s Garden in
inten ded for the of the largest Roscahill has 4.45 ha (11 acres)
abbey, is in the islands, stand the of themed gardens.
National Museum of Carved 12th-century ruins of an early About 4 km (2.5 miles) south-
Ireland in Dublin, doorway of Cong Abbey Christian monastic east of Oughterard (off the N59)
following a successful settlement and is Aughnanure Castle. This
exhibition in the Museum of a Romanesque church. well-restored six-storey tower
Country Life in Turlough. The The lake’s atmosphere is best house clings to a rocky island
most fascinating remains are appreciated on a cruise. From on the River Drimneen. The
the Gothic chapter house, stone Galway, the standard short present castle, built by the
bridges and the monks’ fishing- cruise winds through the O’Flaherty clan, is on the site of
house that over hangs the marshes to the site of an Iron one dating from 1256. The clan
river – the monks had a system Age fort, limestone quarries controlled West Connaught
from Lough Corrib to Galway
and the coast in the 13th to
16th centuries. From this
castle the feuding O’Flaherty
chieftains held out against
the British in the 16th century.
In 1545 Donal O’Flaherty
married the pirate Grace
O’Malley (see p210). The tower
house has an unusual double
bawn (see p24) and a murder
hole from which missiles could
be dropped on invaders.
Connemara ponies roam semi-
wild and are fabled to be from Fuchsias grow profusely in the + Aughnanure Castle
Arab stock that came ashore hedgerows of Connemara, Oughterard. Tel 091 552214.
from Spanish Armada wrecks. thriving in the mild climate. Open Apr–Oct: daily. & 8
7 limited. ∑ heritageireland.ie

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