Moytura's Irish
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We now have a chat club which I hope you will join and use. It offers the chance to share and answer questions about all things Irish. Perhaps some of you will have common roots, family connections -

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If you have enjoyed your wander through the site I'd love to hear your comments, good, bad or indifferent, perhaps you'd sign my GUEST BOOK.
Or EMAIL me with any suggestions you might have.

Connemara - a sparce and lonely beauty

Connemara's coast is very convoluted and it has a wealth of lovely beaches, little islands and harbours. The area around Clifden, the main town in Connemara, is rich with megalithic tombs. The famous green/white Connemara Marble was a trade treasure used by the inhabitants of the time and it continues to be of great value today. There is a link on the place links page which will bring you to a great site showing and telling you all about Connemara Marble.

Ballynahinch Castle in Recess has to be one of my favourite spots on this earth. It nestles quietly in the heart of Connemara, protected by mountains and surrounded by lakes and rivers. Its surroundings are beauty beyond compare and the spectacular views for the visitor as they roam around the estate are just magnificent. This house boasts some fine fishing waters and nearby, in Ballyconeely, is a magnificent 18 hole links course. This place is surely a little piece of heaven on earth.
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The Beautiful Surrounds of Ballynahinch Castle
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The lands of the O'Flaherty clan stretched to within 15 miles of Galway city on the east and into County Mayo to the north-west. The clan leaders were the Lords of Connaught and Masters of the castles of Ballynahinch, Aughanure, Doon, Moycullen, Bunowen and Renvyle

Grace O'Malley-O'Flaherty is well known for her meeting with another famous queen - Elizabeth I - in 1593. Grace was 63 years old at the time and an awesome and formidable lady. She certainly stood proud and erect next to the English Monarch. Although Irish was her native tongue, Grace conversed comfortably with her equal in Latin. The English court of the day wrote:

Grace was unconventional to say the least, allowing neither social nor political convention to stand in the way of her ambitions. Her exploits as a pirate are well documented in history. It was on one of her voyages that she took a lover, divorced her husband and gave birth to a son at sea. She took over the role of head of the O'Flaherty family when her husband was murdered by a rival clan and it is said that she was 'a better man than her husband'.  She died in 1603 at the age of 70 years, the same year as the death of Elizabeth I. A suite of music was composed in her honour in the 1980's called the 'Granuaile Suite' and historian Anne Chambers has received two films offers for the rights of her book on 'The Pirate Queen'.

(Extracts of the history of Grace O'Malley courtesy of The Irish Times and with the kind permission of Des Lally, management staff Ballynahinch Castle and author of 'The History of Ballynahinch Castle'.)
 

Ballynahinch Castle

This place has changed hands many times since and its decline as the noble home of the O'Flahertys began towards the end of the 16th. century.  One other famous resident was 'Humanity Dick', founder of The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). His ancestors took over the house in 1590. The present house was built by Richard Martin's father in the early 1700's as an inn and so history repeats itself. The house is now one of the finest hotels in Galway renowned for its warm hospitality, good food, lovely ambiance and spectacular surroundings.

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Kylemore Abbey

Travelling eastwards from Ballynahinch we come to another spot of breathtaking beauty - Kylemore Abbey. Much younger in age than Ballynahinch and dating back to the middle of the 19th. century, it was built by Mitchell Henry and finished in 1865. He was a successful English financier and his young wife fell in love with the area while on their honeymoon. Sadly she died while on a cruise on the river Nile and only four years after moving into the house. 

Eventually the house was bought by the Benedictine Sisters of Ypres after their own Belgian convent was destroyed in the first world war - they have been here since 1920. It is now one of Ireland's most exclusive girls' boarding schools, catering for Irish as well as international pupils. Many of the daughters of diplomats and ambassadors have gone through its academic programme.
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Kylemore Abbey
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The little Gothic Chapel, down one of the wooded laneways,  has recently been refurbished to its original condition by the Sisters so there is plenty for the visitor to see as they roam around this lovely estate.

The Sisters run a pottery workshop, a gift shop and a restaurant to supplement their incomes, along with that derived from school fees.  Making a visit to this place is well worth while, both for the beauty of the spot and also some of the really good home-baking.

For those who have just joined me on this page why not go to the beginning of our travels and see some of the places in The Start of Our Journey through the West of Ireland. 

My Place Amongst the Stones gives the history of my company name, Moytura - a celtic heritage going back thousands of years. 

We journey to my own parish of Lackagh - a small village just 12 miles from Galway with a mighty big history. Learn all about the Battle of Knockdoe - one of Ireland's bloodiest of conflicts in the 16th century.

We then move on to take a quick jaunt around Galway City. From there we journey south into County Clare and see The Burren - a place that has lain undisturbed since the Ice-age and of immense botanical, ecological and archaeological importance.

Visit Ireland's finest early monastic heritage centre in Clonmacnoise, County Offaly; and to my favourite of all the early Christian Church locations - Clonfert, South County Galway, with its beautiful tiny 12th century Cathedral of Saint Brendan. Come with me around the grounds and see the Bishop's Palace and the 1000 year old Yew Walk. 

While on the Clonfert pages, you can learn a potted history of Saint Brendan the Navigator, possibly the first European to set foot in North America in the 6th. century. And join me in the celebrations when this tiny cathedral was listed in the World Monuments Watch 2000 most endangered monuments.

Come with me on my 'Famine Journey' which starts in Westport, and moves to Sligo, my Dad's County and the departure port for many of the 'Coffin Ships'. This part of my journey ends in Grosse-Île on a tiny island east of Quebec City. 

On this page you will learn some of the history of our Famine Refugees and find the final resting place of over 6,000 of my country folk who died within sight of their first freedom in over 300 years. This is where many of the Irish roots in North America started.

Our Journey moves on to other places on that visit to Canada where we see Quebec City and some of Ontario's lovely places and then to two of Canada's famous Catholic Shrines - Saint Anne de Beaupré and to Cap-de-la-Madeleine.

Finally, join me on my pilgrimage to a peaceful haven in a war-torn country in Medugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovinia. The other areas of my Web site can be found in the drop-down box below.

I have added links pages of other places related to the places we visit, links to leisure activities in Ireland i.e. golf, fishing, horse riding, sailing in Ireland, festivals, entertainment etc. and some of my friends' home pages. 

Don't forget to bookmark this page and return to take up on more of your journeys with me. Oh .. and please sign my Guestbook if you have enjoyed your travels. Go raith míle maith agat - thanks a million

Every now and then people send me stories, poems, or URLs to other Home Pages that I find very touching or uplifting, they can be found at the links below. Some will make you smile, maybe even laugh, some may make you cry or a little sad - but all will leave a little bit of a mark, if only for the few minutes you spend reading or listening to them. Enjoy - I call this section: