Headford
Trout fishing capital of the West of Ireland.
Ross Abbey ;
The legend of Ross dates back to the great plague as
Archbishop Malachy Mac Hugh trying to deal with the
disease went to a shrine and prayed. A vision told him
that if he built a monastery for the Poor Friars the
plague would stop. |
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Cong
Home to the famous Ashford
Castle.
The Cross of Cong
Venue for making of 'The Quiet Man'.
Cung (Irish for Cong) means a narrow strip of land and is
situated on a narrow isthmus of cavernous limestone
between Lough Mask and Lough Corrib. |
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Ballintubber Abbey
Ballintubber's history goes
back to pre-Christian times, people came from the east
through Ballintubber on their way to the holy mountain on
the west coast - now called Croagh Patrick. |
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Castlebar
The National
Museum of Country Life
The National Museum of Ireland - Country Life is the
latest addition to the National Museum of Ireland and is
the first branch of the National Museum to be situated
outside Dublin. The museum opened to the public in
September 2001. The exhibitions portray the lives of
ordinary people who lived in rural Ireland in the period
1850 – 1950. Emphasis is placed on the continuity of
lifestyles, which were established for several hundred
years and which lasted well into the 20th century. |
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Westport
Westport, a designated
Heritage Town, is situated in the shadow of Croagh
Patrick, overlooking Clew Bay. One of the few planned
towns in the Country, Westport was designed in the 18th
Century by James Wyatt. It has become one of Ireland's
established tourism centres, with many outstanding
features, most notably the beautiful tree lined boulevard
known as The Mall, running parallel to the Carrowbeg
River. |
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Leenane
- Ashleagh Falls
The beautiful village of
Leenane, snugly situated at the head of Killary Harbour,
is often aptly described as the 'Gateway to Connemara'.
The roads from Maam, Clifden, and Westport meet at this
point. Killary Harbour extends ten miles inland and with
the mountains rising steeply on either side provides what
is probably the best scenery in Ireland. Walkers have
access to Mweelrea, Sheefry, Paltry and Maumturk
Mountains. |
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Maam Valley / Maam Cross
The Maam Valley with the
Maumturk Mountains o one side and Joyce Country to the
other. Passing through much of the landscape where John
Wayne and Maureen O Hara were filmed in the making "The
Quiet Man". |
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Oughterard
The very first people to set
foot upon the land surrounding Oughterard were most likely
hunter gatherers of the middle stone or Mesolithic age
around 4,000- 3,000BC. Little is known about these early
people's way of life but there are some megalithic tombs
still surviving just North of Oughterard. |
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