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ROSCOMMON  Roscommon
the real heart of Ireland
Roscommon is the only one of the five counties of Connacht without a
coastline.
However it has the next best thing the mighty Shannon, which forms the
eastern boundary of the county for many miles from Carrick-on-Shannon
in the north to Shannonbidge in the south.
For extra measure, the course of the river flows into several loughs,
the largest being Lough Ree.
Roscommon is characterised by a gentle, rural landscape, with the Curlew
Mountains rising in the north beyond Lough Gara and Lough Arrow —
an angler’s paradise.
A networks of old tracks, drove roads, boreens, famine roads and byways
crisscross the countryside.
This is the real heart of Ireland, largely untouched by tourism.
Yet this rich landscape boasts a vibrant culture and a history that stretches
back 5,000 years to the first stone builders in European history.
The 350-mile Táin Trail Touring and Cycling Route starts here in
Roscommon, while the Suck Valley Route, on the borders of West Roscommon
and East Galway, follows the O’Sullivan Beare Trail.
Passing over hillside, forest and bogland it follows the banks of the
River Suck.
Ireland’s history is indelibly etched on the landscape of this part
of Connacht.
The ruins of castles, monasteries and forlorn cottages — abandoned
during the Famine — mark out the countryside in melancholy solitude.
It’s odd how places which once echoed with the sound of human activity
seem so much more lonely now than natural wilderness.
Although Roscommon has landscape to rival the best Ireland has to offer,
the county’s most famous citizens Percy French, Douglas Hyde and
John McGahern spent little time extolling the virtues of their native
soil.
Percy virtually put Cavan and Down on the map with Ballyjamesduff and
the Mountains of Mourne but he was surprisingly quiet on the subject of
his own county.
Odd, because Roscommon has enough charms and sights to guarantee a beautifully
tranquil holiday and if walking, cycling or angling is to your liking,
then you’ve reached paradise.
Boyle
Boyle, or Mainistir na Búille as its residents rarely call it,
has its origins in a Cistercian Abbey overlooking Boyle River. Inevitably,
the religious settlement came under extreme duress in Cromwellian and
Elizabethan times and most of it was torn down.
To find out more about Boyle’s history, head for King House, the
residence of the King family in the 18th century — open to the public
May-September.
At the far end of the town is Frybrook House which dates back some 250
years when it was founded by Henry Fry, a Quaker.
This is the same Quaker Frys as Cadbury-Frys the confectioner, although
the Boyle Frys (who were, believe it or not, originally French Frys) came
to Roscommon to get weaving.
A fabric-manufacturing community was soon set-up and the industry thrived
in the area.
Lough Key Forest Park beside the town boasts as good a walk as you’ll
find in, well, a long day’s march.
Gothic follies, loughs with hints of the occult about them as well as
stables, icehouses and subterranean passages to keep servants out of sight
of the owners of the Great House.
If you’re really keen on exploring the area on foot you could join
the Boyle Curlew Walkers who cut a swathe through the area every second
Sunday — see the local press for details. The annual Curlew Walking
Festival also takes place mid-September. Call 00 353 79 62872, or 00 353
86 8138979
Strokestown
The main street of Strokestown is reputedly the widest in all Europe
Champs Elysees where are ye now?
But it’s not the boulevards of Strokestown that the visitors come
to see, nor even the almost comically castellated wall with three Gothic
arches leading to the graceful Georgian magnificence which is Strokestown
Park House.
The attraction is the Irish Famine Museum in the stableyards of the Strokestown
Estate.
This haunting exhibition features correspondence, details of emigration,
plus an excellent summing up of the authorities’ response to the
tragedy.
The collection boasts an extensive range of papers including actual letters
written by the tenants on the Strokestown Estate at the time of the Famine.
The documents on display include details of the death of Major Denis Mahon
who was owner of the house during the famine.
He was shot dead by tenants who accused him of chartering ‘coffin
ships’ to send those evicted from his land to America.
Rathcrogan
SIX miles south of Frenchpark (the birthplace of Ireland’s first
president Douglas Hyde) lies Rathcrogan.
Formerly Ráth Cruachan, the area boasts some 50 archaeological
monuments. An essential visit if you prefer rock ’n’ history
to rock ’n’ roll, this was the former capital of the pagan
kings of Connacht.
Queen Medbh is reputed to have launched her great Cattle Raid of Cooley
from here.
The shannon callows Supporting a rich variety of wildlife are the water
meadows of The Shannon Callows.
The Roscommon part is situated round the Fahns and Mathers area, close
to Shannonbridge.
It’s one of the few remaining places in these islands where you’ll
hear the unmistakable call of the corncrake.
The birds only start calling at dusk, then continue all night.
The cry of the corncrake belongs to our collective national memory.
It’s the one bird we remember from our childhood.
Along with the call of the cuckoo and the arrival of the swallows it heralded
in spring.
It’s an emotive sound and part of our heritage. And there’s
nowhere better to hear it than in Roscommon’s Shannon Callows amongst
the sedges and the meadowsweet, with the Shannon’s waters lapping
the shore.
Kilronan
This church site on the shores of Lough Meelagh was founded by two Celtic
saints St. Laisar and her father Ronan in the sixth or seventh century.
Now 1,200 years on, the place has lost none of its holiness, with pilgrimages
taking place here every year between August 15 and September 8.
The site of the church is just across the road from St. Laisar’s
Well, surrounded by an ancient graveyard.
The ivy-clad ruin which stands there is not the church built by the early
saints but rather the successor to a 14th century place of worship.
Of particular interest is a modern monument to Turlough O’Carolan,
the great harp player and composer.
O’Carolan died in 1738 at Alderford, just north of Kilronan.
He was buried in the church and his skull was exhibited here for many
years it has since disappeared.
Traditional music
Roscommon has more traditional music than you can shake a bodhran stick
at.
Famed for its flute playing, it is equally well known as the home of the
aforementioned Turlough O’Carolan. Although born in Nobber, Co.
Meath, the harpist was brought up in Roscommon.
Today the O’Carolan Harp Festival And Summer School in Keadue celebrates
the life and times of the man.
The festival includes concerts, set-dancing céilís, harp
recitals, lectures and music sessions.
It takes place between Friday, August 3 to Monday, August 6. Tel +353
(0) 71 96 47216)
www.harp.net/Keadue |
