Moytura's Irish
Bookshop

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 -

Ancestry.com has the greatest databases in the world for those in North America who are trying to trace their ancestry.

Hit the banner to see the some of the extensive lists available and do a search from their own database search engine.

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.

My brother has recently re-opened our Sligo links by buying a holiday home in Rosses Point and many a good day's fun is spent sea-angling on his boat. 

When I started this page I thought I would have little to write about, instead it seems to have turned out to be the longest page of the whole journey.

I came across a great book by Edward Laxton called "The Famine Ships - the Irish Exodus to America 1846-51" which listed the names and departure points of Irish emigrants during the famine years of 1845-1849. It caught my interest and I included the information gleaned in this page. 

The page turned out to be so long that I have decided to write about the famine connection on a separate page. Please stay with me until the end of this page and then go visit page two - 
The Sligo Famine Connection.

As with the other places we have visited on our journey, there are many archeological finds showing human habitation in this area dating back 6,000 years or more.
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Carrowmore Megalithic Tombs
(Benbulben can be seen to the left in the background)
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Creevykeel Court Cairns
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Lough Gill Ben Bulben

Sligo is a spot of hidden and little known beauty and Lough Gill on the Leitrim border, as well as the waterfalls of Glencar, are well worth a visit to those touring the area. Ben Bulben, also known as King Mountain, can be seen in all its glory on the northwards drive out the coast road to Donegal.  Further on is Truskmore mountain, the highest point in northwest Connaught. It is at the foot of Truskmore that my father and his people farmed.

Glencar waterfall

This county has strong links with the poet W. B. Yeats. He is buried in Drumcliffe graveyard, a village on the northbound road, about 5 miles from Sligo. (Yeats also had connections with Galway and often visited Lady Gregory in Coole Park Gort, on the Clare/Galway border.) Much of his poetry was inspired by places in Sligo. The Isle of Inisfree, the title of one of his poems, is located in Lough Gill. There is a collection of their poetry and writings available HERE.

He often resided with the Gore-Booth family, who owned Lissadell House situated on the northern coast of Sligo and within view of Ben Bulben. (Interestingly, one of the consultant surgeons in the hospital in Birmingham where I trained as a nurse was Mr. Gore, a member of this well-known family.)

The most famous member of the Gore-Booth family was Countess Constance Markievicz, the revolutionary. During the tram workers' strike of 1913, when strikes and lockouts put 24,000 people out of work, Constance turned the basement of Liberty Hall into a food kitchen and milk depot. 

She was the first elected female MP to the Houses of Parliament , but took her seat in Dail Eireann (the Embryonic Irish Parliament) instead. Countess Markievicz was  jailed during the uprising of 1916, after which she was released, only to be jailed a number of times until her death.

For anyone thinking of travelling to the north west of Ireland there is much to see and enjoy in this beautiful county. Further north is Donegal, another place with wonderful scenery, wonderful people and wonderful welcome.

The second page from Sligo brings us on a part of my Famine Journey that really starts in Westport. 
It tells of the infamous Coffin Ships which departed from the port in Sligo bound for North America during the famine period.

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 move on to take a quick jaunt around Galway City; and then to the heart of Connemara - with its wild and wonderful beauty. 

From there we journey south into County Clare to 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 1000 year old Yew Walk and the Bishop's Palace. 

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.

Join me on my 'Famine Journey' which starts in Westport, and moves here to 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 from 1845 - 1849 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: