Sept 5 Galway (Day 344)
The 5 of us Fallon and extended family took a trip to Galway to experience the trad (traditional) music scene there.
We started with a trad Irish lunch!
After lunch we joined a city walking tour to learn some history of the city, including visiting a section of the medieval city wall preserved within a modern shopping mall! Much more scenic is the short 3.7 mile River Corrib that flows from Lough Corrib to Galway Bay through Galway City.
Moored on the river is a Galway Hooker, a type of boat specific to the area, built to withstand the rough seas of Galway Bay.
We also saw the cutest thatch-roofed store in Galway!
We finally made our way to The Crane Bar, after attempting to hear trad music at 3 other bars, but finding no seating available!
We arrived early enough to get seating to view and hear the 3 fiddlers, one accordionist, one harmonica player and a drummer on a snare drum perform.
The harmonica player also did several Irish step-dance sets!
Sept 4 Tower Bridge (Day 343)
Robert spent the day on another adventure in London, visiting the Tower Bridge and the nearby attractions!
The moat around the Tower of London has been re-landscaped into a wildflower garden Oasis!
In the background is the Tower Bridge, often mistaken for the London Bridge.
In 1968 the London Bridge which was opened in 1831, was sold to an entrepreneur who reconstructed it at Lake Havasu City in Arizona in 1971! A new London Bridge, in London, was constructed and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973.
The Tower Bridge is supposedly more impressive than the London Bridge!
After a tour of the bridge from below and above, Robert continued his walk around London.
A view of the Tower Bridge with the modern skyline of London in the background.
A beautiful garden view along the Thames River.
Sept 3 Keem Beach (Day 342)
We went for a late morning swim at Keem Strand in a light mist and cool breeze.
A long ‘strand’ of sandy beach and clear sea-glass green water the same temperature as the air!
The sun broke through the clouds and the breeze blew the mist away. After we left the water we looked back as a seal popped it’s head up as if to ask ” where are you going? The water’s great!”
In spring the waters here are frequented by basking sharks that in the past were hunted for their valuable oil.
After our swim we decided to climb the cliff above the beach.
We accidently got off the main trail and followed sheep trails through the heather on the slope.
At the top are the remains of several buildings, from ancient watch tower, medieval shepherd shelter to more recent coastguard lookout, all with long views of the rugged Atlantic coast.
A gap in the crumbling stone wall frames the moor sweeping up the sides of the cliffs.
On the right in the above picture is Croaghaun mountain towering over the valley and sweeping down to Keem Strand. On the opposite side of the mountain the tallest cliffs in Ireland plunge down to the Atlantic, cliffs that are three times higher than the more accessible and tourist-mobbed Cliffs of Moher!
Our adventures today deserved a reward! The smallest pub on Achill Island and one of the smallest in Ireland!
A toasty turf fire helped warm us to the bone after our swim and hike in the blustery cool breeze on the cliffs!
Sept 2 Achill Island (Day 341)
We woke up in a temporary accommodation, not being able to get into our B&B after a 2 hour drive through the dark and stormy night. We were able to find enough beds for the 5 of us at a nearby hotel, Achill Isle House in the nearby town of Keel. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and headed to explore the area before moving to our original accommodation.
On the south slope of Slievemore mountain near Keel are the remnants of a village site that was occupied for about 6000 years. Rows of the remains of about 100 houses line an ancient road with sweeping views down to Keel beach. The last residents moved on in the 1960’s when it was considered more of a ‘booley’ village, occupied primarily in the summer by cattle herders.
Now it is home to rainbow colored sheep!
After settling in at our B&B house in the town of Dooega we took a drive around the south coast of Achill island on a tiny portion of the 1600 mile Wild Atlantic Way.
We stopped to admire the white cliffs of Ashleam.
We then stopped at Kildavnet Tower, a stronghold of the famous “Pirate Queen” Grace O’Malley.
Grace O’Malley, Gráinne Ní Mháille in Irish, was an Irish noblewoman in the 15th century, who inherited a sailing fleet and trading business from her father, and lands from her mother. She was a strong leader and even met with Queen Elizabeth I as an equal.
Sept 1 Strokestown (Day 340)
Today we headed into the countryside to learn some family history and meet some of the distant relatives. I am a member of only the 2nd generation on our father’s side to be born in the US, our paternal grandparents having emigrated from Ireland to the US in the early 1900’s. We are traveling to the town of our Irish grandmother’s birth, Strokestown, county Roscommon, central Ireland. She hailed from the farming area known as Cloonfree, about 2 miles from Strokestown which was one site of the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-49, witness to some of the worst starvation and emigration of the time.
We began our history tour at “The Big House”, Strokestown Park House, the estate owned and run by the Mahon family for over 300 years. In the 1660’s Captain Mahon was given the lands by Oliver Cromwell as reward for his services in the Crowellian War of Conquest of Ireland, the most devastating of the long history of invasions of Ireland.
After a hearty lunch in the cafe, we started our tour in the walled gardens of the estate.
The Victorian era glass houses (greenhouses) are impressive. The walled pit at the front of the photo is the ‘pineapple pit’ where potted pineapple plants were placed, packed around with composting manure to keep them warm!
Inside the largest glass house is a small room with a wood burning furnace that directed heat via cast iron pipes to all corners of the greenhouse and out to other smaller glasshouses. ‘Garden boys’ would keep the fire burning all night which allowed the estate to furnish their table with fresh vegetables and fruits year round.
We moved inside to tour the National Famine Museum, established by the Westward Group and opened in 2022. In 1979 the Westward Group purchased the derelict estate, for its acreage, from the last member of the Mahon family to live there, Olive.
Olive, in the center, continued living in the Big House until 1981. When Jim Calley (red arrow), founder of Westward Group, took possession of the estate he discovered 300 years of furnishings and written records preserved by the Mahon family. This trove included over 50,000 written records of the Famine years and the impact on the local population. These became the basis for preserving the house and displaying the history of the Famine, through the eyes of the landlord and the tenants alike.
Some of the records explained the program by which the landlord, Denis Mahon, paid the passage for the transport to North America, of the tenants he deemed undesirable. He failed to pay their way to Dublin, 100 miles away and basically evicted them, forcing them to walk, in winter, and starving, to the ships ultimately called ‘coffin ships’ to be sent to Canada or the US. A sculpture in the courtyard commemorates the gift of $170 dollars (equivalent to several thousand dollars today) raised by the Choctaw Nation, donated to relieve the suffering of the starving Irish in 1847.
In 1847 Denis Mahon was murdered, the perpetrator(s) never being identified, although 2 locals were convicted and hanged.
Our family ancestors somehow avoided the evictions and transportation as well as starvation through those difficult years.
From the Famine Museum we joined a tour of the Big House.
The imposing edifice, built and expanded on through the years from 1660.
The history of the Mahon family as told by our tour guide described a family obsessed with ostentatious outward appearances of wealth and subsequent debt. The main sitting room, the library, was papered with gold leaf wallpaper! The thick walls of the master’s bedroom incorporated the walls of the original fortress built on the site pre-1600!
The ‘gallery’ balcony overlooking the kitchen was the domain of the Mistress of the house from where she would drop written instructions to the servants, so at to not have to talk to or even walk amongst the servants, busy at the stoves and preparation tables.
The gallery kitchen was preserved due to it being walled off and a smaller modern kitchen built in the center of the room in the 1950’s!
Our tour completed we drove the 2 miles to the home of our relatives, cousins several times removed.
The lovely house with the modern accoutrement of solar panels!
With the guidance of our cousin Tom we drove around the block to the site of our grandmothers house.
Under the brambles and trees in the field is the rubble of the house our grandmother was born in and lived until she emigrated to New Jersey in the early 1900’s.
We joined the extended family for dinner at a local restaurant, with a birthday cake dessert!
It was after dark when we said our goodbyes, the light in the doorway inviting and warm, carrying on the legacy of family.
