Oughterard Heritage Walk

The Church was built in 1810 by means of a gift of £600 from the Board of First Fruits. Rev. John Wilson 1806-1844 was appointed as Perpetual Curate to the parish of Kilcummin 1806. One acre of land was acquired from Arthur St. George from Tyrone, Galway for the nominal sum of 10 shillings. The two wardens were Thomas Henry O Fflahertie and Thomas Parker O Fflahertie - landlords of the area. The church consisting of the present nave and tower was a small neat edifice that seated 70. Services were also held in the Barracks in Camp St. for the convenience of the military. In 1810 tithes (church taxes) of £140 were collected from the general population of 9000 Catholics and 50 -100 Protestants. The building was renovated and extended in 1852. Between 1841 and 1851 the extensive population of the Kilcummin parish fell by 20% due to famine deaths, disease and emigration. Long established landowners went bankrupt - the Martins and the O Fflaherties and 40% of the land in Oughterard changed hands. Many tenant farmers became labourers or were unemployed. Large numbers were leaving in a state close to destitution and the famine left many orphans. In the church, which is open to the public, there are a number of commemorative plaques to the Martins and the O Fflaherties. In the church graveyard three high crosses of granite stand over the graves of the Martin Family - Robert Martin 1905, Edith Martin 1908 and Robert's wife Connie 1914. Today the catholic and protestant populations join together for ecumenical services at Christmas and for the Harvest Festival.

1843-1846 "The Faithful Companions of Jesus", a French order of nuns came to Oughterard by invitation from Dr Joseph Kirwan. Their stay in Oughterard was short lived, because of the abject poverty of the people. They deemed it an unsuitable place for the order. The Sisters of Mercy replaced them in 1858. Funds were scarce at first and classes were held in out offices but by 1863 there were 367 children on the school roll. The convent school and the local boys' school will soon amalgamate into a new building. The convent attic is a nursery roost for Leisler Bats. The wooded areas around the convent and interconnecting hedgerows and tree lines along the trails are important feeding and commuting routes for bats.

On Christmas Day 1830 the church was opened temporarily for Divine Worship. Rev. Dr Kirwan the parish priest responsible for the erection of the church was a remarkable man - a brilliant orator. He later became the first President of Galway University, but was obliged to resign after the Synod of Cashel refused to sanction the establishment of the Queen's Universities. Arriving in Oughterard in 1827 he wrote, "I found a neglected and mountainous district with a large scattered population of 10,000 souls and literally destitute of a house of worship. I had peculiar difficulties to encounter in erecting even one principal parochial chapel as there was no resident Proprietor in the parish and the extreme poverty of the people precluded them from affording me any effective assistance. I was nonetheless encouraged to commence the erection of a house of worship by Thomas Martin MP who bestowed for that purpose an acre of land in the town of Oughterard with a subscription of £50 and £50 from his father Colonel Martin. A similar sum from Mr St.George of Tyrone and other small sums not amounting to £50 in all, was all the support received from the parish or those connected with it." The people of the parish may not have been in a position to offer financial assistance but they did offer voluntary labour, a factor that helped reduce the cost of erection very considerably. A dispute arose over the title of the site when the Martin Estate went into liquidation and the site passed to The Law Life Insurance Company and the O Fflaherties. The Martins had not given proper title of the site to the church authorities. They were ordered to quit, but Dr Kirwan, petitioned Daniel O Connell to intervene and he made a national issue out of it. The Lord Mayor of Dublin was one of the many important people who signed a petition against O Fflahertie, who eventually relented and gave over the site. Daniel O Connell's service was sought because his daughter was married in Oughterard to Mr F.N. Ffrench, a magistrate. Daniel O Connell arrived in Oughterard March 14th 1840 and within two days the case was settled out of court. The contract for the building of the church was given to William Brady of Nun's Island, Galway who also won the contract for the building of Queen's College (N.U.I.G.). The bishop of Galway, Dr. Plunkett Browne, dedicated the church on the 24th August 1837 and Archbishop Mc Hale of Tuam preached the sermon. The original church was early Gothic with a Romanesque flat-pitched roof, the entrance flanked by two machicolated towers. There was a larger bell tower on the west side. In January 1879 a fire destroyed most of the church. Between 1932 and 1934, it was reconstructed by Archdeacon Mark Conroy, P.P. At this time the altar was moved from under the gallery to the north wall. The church is worth a visit to see the famous Harry Clarke stained glass window, depicting the Crucifixion, behind the main altar, erected at this time. The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet - alpha and omega are in two panels on the left and right hand bottom corners of the window. The altar was made from Connemara marble and was designed by Mr Hughes of Galway Marble Industries. The organ was built by L. Isaac, 20 Forster St., Galway.

In 1820 the triple arch stone bridge was built as part of Alexander Nimmo's road improvements between Galway and Clifden. This strengthened the link between Galway and Clifden. Observe the erosion of the limestone rock that is taking place up stream along the left bank of the river. The bridge is also home to Leisler Bats. Leisler Bats Like most wild animals, bats are shy creatures and they stay away from humans. Leisler bats roost in the convent attic and under the stone bridge that spans the river. They are the largest bats in Ireland. Bats are mammals. They have fur and give birth to live young. They are the only mammals that can fly. Leisler bats fly in and out under the arches of the bridge at night as they search for insects and moths. Their hearing is their most highly developed sense. In the dark they emit high frequency sounds and use the echoes to detect details of their surroundings and locate the insects on which they prey. They are not blind. They hibernate during the winter, dropping their body temperature to match that of their surroundings, and reduce their heartbeat as low as 20 beats per minute to conserve their reserves. They hang upside down from the bridge roof with their wings wrapped around their bodies. Bats should never be subjected to any form of disturbance during hibernation for, in the process of waking up, they use up some of their vital energy reserves and may die if disturbed frequently. Bats help reduce the insect population and they also eat organic waste. Remember: Bats are our friends. So let us give bats a chance, they are important too!

St Michael's Well is situated to the far left of the rugby grounds. In the Celtic world wells were sacred places. They were seen as thresholds between the deeper, dark, unknown subterranean world and the outer world of light and form. Wells were revered as special apertures through which divinity flowed forth. Manannan Mac Lir said, "No one will have the knowledge who does not have a drink from the well." In olden times people walked several rounds of the well, travelling in a clockwise direction, and they often left votive offerings to St Michael. Beside St Michael's House is Wellpark House

Well Park is a large house in the Georgian style, built by the Willis family. Dr Robert Willis' second child, Eliza, married Dr Charles Hynes (Nottingham) in 1885. He died in 1942. His daughter Birdie lived there until her death in the 1980s. Miss Brooke Leggatt rented this house at the beginning of the last century. She was very interested in the local community and was particularly kind to children. She organised a boys' football team and bought jerseys and boots for the team. She provided medals and a silver cup for competitions and for games and travelled with the players to different venues.

Opposite the well on the left hand side of the main road at the end of the church car park are the ruins of an old tower. It is reputed locally that this structure was once part of an old fort. There was a toll bridge in operation at this point and monies were collected on carts of turf, potatoes, wool and grain going to the Oughterard market. In Cromwellian times Circa 1649, the tower was used as a sentry post when the courts were in session in Wellpark House across the river.

Oughterard House (now Sweeney's hotel) And Sandymount House Title Deeds only became common in the 1860's and the first mention on the deeds of a building is 1839. It appears that the original house dates from about that time when a small Georgian house was built. The current building façade is twice the size of the original. This was extended in 1969 and is an exact copy of the front dimensions. The house was a private residence until it was converted to a hotel in 1935. Many structural changes were added, including a ballroom in 1948. Edward and Molly Sweeney bought Oughterard house in 1955 and continued it as a hotel, adding their name to the title. Behind Oughterard House and to the left is Sandymount House which was built in 1851 as a stone two storey thatched Victorian dwelling. The British Admiralty map of 1846 has the name "Sandymount" shown where the house now stands. The house had internal walls made of turf sods with lathed plaster, warm but a fire risk. It was last thatched in 1963 with wheaten-straw, which was laid on rafters of hazel. The thatch was approximately a metre in thickness. By 1978 the thatch was in need of replacing and following unsuccessful attempts to find thatchers to carry out the work, the roof was replaced with tiles. The house is a warm family home with many period features and the walls are up to a metre in thickness.

Mrs. Kathleen Maloney, Glann (nee Morton Jack), gave the Shrubbery grounds to the people of Oughterard at a "Peppercorn" rent in 1960. The late Kathleen was the daughter of Hugh Morton Jack, son of Dora O Fflahertie of Lemonfield. Children enjoy picking conkers, fishing in the shallows of the river for pond skaters and 'pinkeens' and crossing the stone bridge to the little island in the middle of the river. Take a while, rest here and enjoy the beauty of the shrubbery.

The Oughterard Hatchery commenced operations in 1852 and was the first trout and salmon hatchery in Ireland. The first authoritative paper on hatchery management for Atlantic or Pacific salmon was published in 1853 and was based on the operation of this hatchery. Oughterard is therefore the birthplace of salmon farming as it is practiced worldwide today. In the winter of 1861-1862, "No more than a million and a half of ova were laid down in this hatchery. Ova from the hatchery were the first to be transferred to the southern hemisphere with the first consignment of 100,000 salmon and 300 trout eggs being placed in a hold ship, 'Norfolk' on the 21st of January 1864 destined for Melbourne, Australia" In 2007, over half a million eggs were set to hatch in the hatchery. The young fry were released in Spring into Lough Corrib and many of the streams feeding it.

Opposite the hatchery is a traditional vernacular cottage, "Salmon Leap". The cottage was originally thatched. Further along the old Connemara road there was also a row of thatched cottages where all the families died from cholera during the famine {1845-1851}. Mr Mc Donagh, owner of "Salmon Leap", was boarding up his cottage door when Fr.Kavanagh, the parish priest, came along. "Where are you going? he enquired. "I am on my way because all my neighbours have died from cholera," replied Mr Mc Donagh. Folklore tells us that the priest made the sign of the cross with pitch on the door and told him to return to his home and assured him that both he and his family would survive the disease. Thankfully the priest's prediction came true.

This was the home of Humanity Dick Martin (1714-1794) founder of "The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He used to boast that he had an avenue 30 miles long stretching from Oughterard to his other residence at Ballynahinch Castle Connemara. George Bernard Shaw's grandmother, Margaret Gurly lived for a time in the house. G. B. Shaw wrote, "Walter Bagnal Gurly of Oughterard was my maternal grand father. He married twice and had a son Walter John and a daughter (my mother) by his first marriage, and six daughters and one son by his second. The son and two of his daughters died young and of the four survivors one never married. All of his children are now dead but there are grandchildren living in England and the USA... I am much more a Shaw than a Gurly", wrote G.B.Shaw to Johnny Holleran, a tailor and local historian. Dr Kirwan, a later occupant of the house, had a hydroelectric system above the waterfall. It supplied electricity to Clareville house, to Mc Donaghs, and to three other neighboring houses. In 1932 the New Connemara Road was built through the front garden, dividing it in two - as you now see it. In the front garden during May and June, a spectacular, Red Chilean Fire Bush (Embothrium coccineum) produces scarlet flowers that crowd the slender branches producing an effect like burning torches.

The "Golden Mile" sign indicates the path to continue along the award winning walk

Looking over the wall behind the stone seat you will see a little stone house. This was once a mill, owned by the Tierney family. Here they ground corn. Water from the river was redirected into a large tank. At the bottom of the tank there was a propeller which it rotated with the power of the water and turned the grinding stone inside the house. Look out for the quern stone used in the mill, as it is placed outside the gate of the farmstead along the walk - (see Stop 11). Looking over the wall, between the beech trees you can see ferns, ivy and a carpet of woodland plants underneath. Try and count how many different shades of green you can see. There is a holly tree to your left. Holly (Cuileann - ilex aquifolium) The English name Holly comes from "Holy" and originates in the belief that the holly's scarlet berries, like drops of blood, along with its prickly leaves are symbolic of Christ's sufferings. It is used to decorate houses, often with the idea of protecting the house against evil spirits during the festive season of Christmas and the New Year. On St Stephen's Day, when the wren boys went from house to house asking for money to bury the wren, they placed the wren on a piece of holly bush decorated with ribbons. In early Irish law holly was classified as an Airig fedo or "Noble of the Wood". The fresh shoots of holly were not only used as fodder for livestock but also as spears and chariot poles.

The Tower once marked the eastern limit of the vast estates of the Martins of Ballynahinch. The landlords employed bailiffs when the salmon were running to keep a watchful eye on poachers. There was a lookout post on the top of the tower that gave the bailiff full view of a long stretch of the river on both sides of the waterfall. Mike Farrell, the caretaker for the O Fflaherties, landlords of the area, lived here with his wife and family. Owing to dampness the family had to vacate the tower in 1929 and moved to a larger house owned by the O Fflaherties above the waterfall. Mr Gascoigne lived in this house too. This house was later demolished as it was in poor condition. Eddie Faherty, Camp St. used the old quarry tiles from the kitchen floor when building his home and Kathleen Maloney, a member of the O'Fflaherie clan, also used some of the tiles to make a mantlepiece in her living room. Mallard (mallard - anas platyrhynchos) When you arrive at the top of the steps after the tower glance up the river and you could see mallards on the river. Description: The breeding male's glossy green head and white neck ring are instantly recognizable, and both sexes sport a characteristic purple blue wing patch or speculum throughout the year. This common duck breeds on or near the riverbank. It feeds on arable land and the muddy river margins. Voice: Male whistles quietly; female gives loud raucous descending quacks - quack, quack. Nesting: The ducks nest usually on the ground, in a down-lined hollow, but sometimes in a bush or tree; 9-13 eggs; 1 brood, January-August. Feeding: Takes small aquatic invertebrates, seeds, shoots, roots and grain from shallow water while upending or dabbling; also feeds on dry ground such as stubble fields. Continue to walk towards the stile that leads you to a secondary road. Turn right.

The well is inside the small black gate. This is private property but the owner has carefully restored the well. It is believed that the water of the well contains a cure for warts. It is horseshoe-shaped on the outside and like a house on the inside. It has red brick on the outside and is white washed on the inside. The well is covered with grass and extends back about 3m. It is 1.83m from the surface of the water to the roof; the depth is 0.1m. Steps lead down to where the old water level was.

On the opposite side of the road, a little further on, you come to the ruins of a Thornton's Cotton Factory. The factory was surrounded by a number of small thatched houses where the factory workers lived. This ruin was originally one long building stretching as far as the modern house you see here today. In the first one roomed cottage lived Joe Walsh and his sister Barbara. The families of the Wards, Murrays, Joyces, Gibbons and Conneelys lived in the other cottages. Later the inhabitants left and went to live in other areas. The effluent from the dye used in the factory flowed into the river causing the death of many trout and salmon. The pollution of the river caused the factory to be closed. When the factory was vacated it was divided into a number of houses with a room and a kitchen. Following these alterations, pressure from the interior walls pushed out the back walls; stone pillars were built to support the walls and to stop them spreading out.

This magnificent limestone bridge is one of 28 bridges built to carry the trains travelling between Galway and Clifden. On New Year's Day 1895 the first train left Galway. The construction of the railway in less than four years was a great engineering achievement. 7 stations, 28 bridges and 14 gate keepers' cottages were built at level crossings, 78km (49miles) of track were laid, all at a cost of £264,400. Arthur Balfour granted government aid towards the building. The local landlords, the Martins of Ross and the O Fflaherties were influential in bringing the railway in this direction. The boards supporting the tracks were called sleepers and they were held in place by a fish case. This was a piece of iron with three holes in it. The "Quiet Man Bridge" in Leam was the half way mark. When you reached the bridge you knew you were an hour away from Galway or Clifden. The train did not break any speed records as it travelled at a leisurely pace of 24km/h (15mph). People travelled to England and Scotland from here on the train. Times were hard, there was no social welfare system and emigration was rife. Sons and daughters said "good bye" before boarding the train never to return again to their beloved villages. The railway made the beauty of Connemara accessible to all for the price of a railway ticket but it was not commercially viable and having been in use for just forty years, it was closed in 1935. Walk along the road between two hedges of palm until you come to open ground. In this area you are quite likely to see hares. Hare (giorra - lepus timidus) The Irish hare has a rich russet coat with a white tail. It lives in the open, on bog and grassland. The normal resting place is a hollow in ground vegetation made by the animal's body and called a "form". Away from its form the hare relies on a turn of speed to escape from its enemies. The hare can touch 48kph (30mph) on short grass and is also a superb long-jumper with a leap over 3m. It has acute senses of hearing and smell. A hare, when not lying in its form, can spot a person several hundred metres away. Hares can be seen at dusk or occasionally during the day. They eat grass, sedges, heather, rushes and gorse. Their young are called leverets and they enter the world with a full coat of hair, with their eyes open and able to run within an hour. This is an advantage to a defenceless animal, which lacks the protection of a burrow. Nevertheless a leveret's early days are spent sheltering in a form. The mother usually separates her litter - one leveret to a form - thus avoiding putting all her 'eggs' in one basket.

This burial ground is known locally as "Teampaillín" - this place was not blessed and therefore it was not called a cemetery. In 1996 Canon Tully, the local parish priest blessed the ground and the graves. This graveyard was attached to the local Workhouse, as the local graveyard was unable to cope with the vast numbers of inmates who died in the Workhouse. There was a fever hospital attached to the local workhouse; nearby stood the Dead House. People who died from famine and fever were buried in this ground. Their bodies were brought from the Dead House in a small handcart. Many were buried without coffins but on other occasions a simple plain coffin was used. In some instances a mobile coffin with a sliding bottom was used. The corpses were dropped into the grave. The mobile coffin was mounted on wheels and was also used to collect the bodies of the poor who had not gained admission to the Workhouse and who had died of starvation or fever by the roadside. Stephen Lydon and Tom Walsh were in charge of the burials. The family of Frank Mc Donagh, Bealadaingean, who died on the 16th August 1916, erected a headstone over his grave. It is the only headstone in the graveyard and it is in the far side of the field. You will notice the ancient graves are simply marked with a large stone. A circle of smaller stones marks a child's grave.

This delightful cut limestone cottage is one of 14 built by the Midland Great Western Railway. The cottage has the original windows. Observe; there are no windows on the right gable of the cottage. The caretaker's duties were opening the gates to allow the trains pass as well as inspecting the condition of the tracks. The first train passed here on New Year's Day 1895. It had taken a long battle of over 20 years to get Government approval and financial support, and a further 4 years to build the line. So there must have been great excitement that Tuesday morning when the train left Galway at 8a.m, passed through a tunnel in Prospect Hill and then moved onto the imposing three-span bridge across the River Corrib. Aboard were the general manager of MGWR and a number of other railway dignitaries on a special journey of inspection. The 27km (17mile) stretch of track passed over 11 bridges on the way to Oughterard, including stations at Moycullen and Ross, which together with curves, cuttings and gradients made it a considerable engineering project. Left of the cottage there is a giant Cypress tree (Cupressus Macrocarpa). Continue a little further and you will see the stone building of the Railway Station - now Dixon's Carpet Factory.

There were only12 passengers on the first train journey as it was a strict Church Holiday. On arrival the officials "repaired to the Railway Hotel - (Corrib Hotel) where they were liberally entertained". The next train left for Oughterard at 10.45a.m and was joined by a considerable number of people from Galway. Fish caught in Lough Corrib, were transported by train to the London Fish Market. Guinness, flour, sugar, tea and other provisions for local shops arrived by train. Tourists and anglers also travelled by train. From 1935 after the station was closed the building was used for different purposes - a school, a factory where swimwear was manufactured. Now high quality wool carpets are made here for the home and international markets. Dixon carpet company The Dixon Carpet Company was established as V'Soske Joyce Company in 1957. The Dixon family has worked with the company from the start. They currently stock 50 varieties of yarn, in wool, linen, linen-wool, silk, silk-wool and viscose. They have their own dyeing house so they can match whatever colour you want. The company worked with some of the most famous designers from, Philippe Stark to Ettore Sotsass. Irish designers Patrick Scott, Mary Fitzgerald, Louis Le Brocquet and Patricia Jorgensen have also worked with the company. The company employs local crafts people. Hawthorn Hedge The Railway Company set a hawthorn hedge along the left hand side of the main road to provide shelter for travellers. The hawthorn hedge protected young ash seedlings. It has become neglected over the years and now ash trees are taking over. The company built a footpath on the left hand side too so that travellers would not have to walk on the dirt road to the Railway Hotel (Corrib Hotel). A row of silver birch lines the right hand side of the road.

Oughterard Poor Law Union was the second wave of Irish unions created between 1848 and1850. It formally came into existence on 8th October 1849. The Oughterard workhouse was built by the Union and opened in 1852. George Wilkinson designed it on a 12acre site for 600 inmates. The building cost £5950 to construct plus a further £1055 for fixtures and fittings. The cost of each Irish workhouse was only two thirds of similar workhouses in England, the reduction being achieved by a rigid economy in their construction and equipment. The walls were of limestone masonry; the insides were not plastered but heavily whitewashed. The floors at ground level were of mortar or clay being, as Wilkinson said, "less cold than stone and less liable to decay than wooden floors". The stairway was of stone, steep and narrow, the windows were small. An open turf fire provided heating. It was a very dark depressing setting. Only the bare essentials were provided with very few refinements. The workhouse was the most dreaded and feared institution in Ireland. The workhouse system of poor relief was imposed on the Irish people in spite of opposition from Catholic and Protestant, landlord and laborer. Everyone predicted that it would not work, and this proved to be the case. During the famine years 1845-1848, countless thousands died within the workhouse walls. Even more, denied admission, died outside. The Oughterard workhouse replaced a "poorhouse" with a thatched roof that had been destroyed by fire. In order to qualify for relief the whole family had to enter the workhouse together having vacated their land and their little thatched house. People with a quarter acre of land were not eligible for relief. Relief which consisted of 1kg (2lbs) of mixed meal, a quarter pound of oatmeal and three quarters of a pound of Indian meal per person per week. You entered the workhouse through a large gate. On the right stood the caretaker's house. Denis Nee, Rosmuc was the last caretaker. To the left was the dispensary, it was later moved to the courthouse and then to a doctor's residence at Claremount. Houses for the inmates, hospital, fever hospital, dead house, school, chapel, long buildings for the inmates, Master of the workhouse's home, gardens and stables were all built on this site. The chapel is the only building of the original workhouse still standing and is situated at the end of Cregg na Coille estate. Families were classified and segregated when they entered the workhouse, fathers and sons going to the male quarters and mothers and daughters going to the female section; children over two years were separated from their parents and sent to the children's ward. Emigrating families left hundreds of children behind them. They were to follow on later, but some never left the workhouse alive. Pat Gill father of the late Mrs Sally Joyce, Camp Street drove the workhouse van - a covered vehicle. A team of two horses pulled the van. It collected the inmates around Connemara. It was known as the "Cóiste Bodhair". Women who caused trouble between their sons/daughters and their spouses were sometimes packed off to the workhouse. Clothing Children were not provided with stockings or footwear on the grounds that they were not accustomed to footwear. During the famine the shoddiest of clothing was provided, as it was considered good enough for paupers who arrived at the workhouse half naked and half starved. The women wore a check dress while the men wore white corduroy trousers, waistcoat, heavy overcoat and a Tammy Shaunter cap. 'Oughterard Union' was written across the bottom of the men's trousers. Burning of the workhouse In 1922 the local Republican movement were given orders from Dublin to burn the workhouse so that the Free State army would not have a place of lodging in the area. Many people did not approve of this burning as they sold milk and turf to the workhouse and this was a source of income for themselves and their families. In 1940 J.H. Joyce purchased the workhouse site. One of the conditions of the sale was that J.H. had to comply with the Compulsory Tillage Act, which was enforced during the war years 1939-1945. He was compelled to sow oats on the land. All the farmers in the parish were compelled to sow a percentage of their land with potatoes, oats, barley and beet. the surrounding wall The grey limestone wall that surrounds the estate is the original wall built by three Conneely brothers from Rusheeney. The engineer at the time condemned it as bad stone masonry and the men were never paid for their work! In 1927-1928 stones were taken from the dilapidated buildings to build the newly constructed road to the Oughterard pier and the new Connemara road through Claremount. The timbers windows and slates were auctioned: some of the windows were used in local sheds.