Renvyle & its Scenic Environs_clone

Renvyle
&

its Scenic

Environs

by
Daniel Sammon MA

Published
by

GALWAY ACADEMIC PRESS

Copyright © Daniel Sammon 2021
& Galway Academic Press

First published in Ireland

Galway Academic Press
Galway, Ireland
Company Reg No: 488084
Email:[email protected]
www.galwayacademicpress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means-
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise - without written permission from the publisher
or the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief
passages in a review.

Published by Galway Academic Press

Printed by CL Print

ISBN 677-9925-04-422-9

A CIP catalogue number for this publication is available from
The British Library

2

RENVYLE & its Scenic
Environs

Welcome to Renvyle & its Scenic Environs!

This book has been written to enhance the reading interest
and enjoyment of first-time visitors to this beautiful part of
the country as well as regular visitors to Renvyle & its Scenic
Environs and of course residents of this splendid peninsula.
This is intended to be enjoyed as light reading rather than a
studious academic cultural anthropology. It is a selection of
small local areas viewed through an historical and scenic
lens, comprising of facts, legends, anecdotes, mythology,
assumptions, deducements and suggestions interspersed
with appealing photos.
It does not suggest or recommend particular restaurants,
pubs or accommodation. There are numerous such places of
high standards but there are publications and agencies such
as Tourism Ireland and others extolling their services. This
book may rekindle memories of past visits for some people
or stimulate others for a first visit.
Many people who visit Renvyle perhaps would like to know a
lot more about the place, its inhabitants, its history and its
heritage. They may find one piece of information here and
another piece there, for example in one book they may
acquire considerable knowledge about Kylemore, in another
they may learn of the Cleggan Disaster and in another one
they may glean much knowledge about Clifden.

3

In some of these publications however there may be too
many details and not enough in others; that doesn’t mean
this one is perfect either but you can pick and choose what
you want and you can start at the beginning, at the end or in
the middle. At the outset, this published work of literature
being a small book contains a very select number of items of
interest about different places and well-known people
associated with them in or not too far away from Renvyle.
Some literary heavyweights were visitors or one-time
residents of Renvyle and its Scenic Environs. For example two
of the world’s most famous men in their own fields of
endeavour lived a few hundred yards from each other’s
abode but at different times and so the two of them never
met. Ludwig Wittgenstein who lived for a time in Rosroe was
11 years old when Oscar Wilde who lived, at different times,
in nearby Illaunroe died in 1900. They might not have been
world-famous when they lived in Renvyle but they are now.
Many other well-known literati such as Oliver St John
Gogarty owner of the local hotel, Lady Gregory and Richard
Murphy as well as Nobel winners W B Yeats and Winston
Churchill were short-term residents.
Other visiting artists of renown included Paul Henry,
Augustus John, Ernest Albert Waterlow, Louis le Brocquy,
Jack B Yeats, Count John McCormack, Harry Clarke and
numerous others.
Among pioneers in other fields were Guglielmo Marconi,
surgeon Peter Freyer, John and Mary Ellis, as well as two
ladies ahead of their time – Granuaile and Caroline Johanna
Blake.
Numerous film stars such as John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara,
Barry Fitzgerald, Fred Astaire, Richard Harris, Sean Bean,
Eamon Morrissey, Saffron Burrows, Brenda Fricker, Scott

4

Glynn, Charlotte Rampling and many others were involved in
several different films shot there.
Some longer-term residents were Mitchell Henry, John Darcy,
Alexander Nimmo, Henry Blake, Tommie Whelan and Richard
Martin while some others were merely passing through like
Padraig Pearse, Alcock & Brown, King Edward VII and Charles
de Gaulle. The mortal remains of St Patrick’s nephew are
reputed to be resting in peace in Renvyle.
Other much more detailed books are of course available
regarding particular places. ‘Life is like a book, if you don’t
travel, you only read one page’ so said Augustine of Hippo.
The lay-out will be something along these lines - the area first
then painted with people - interspersed with photos.

5

6

Contents

Foreword 9
1 - ILLAUNROE – one-time home of Oscar Wilde 13
2 - KYLEMORE 18
3 - LOUGH INAGH VALLEY 22
4 - LETTERFRACK [John Ellis] 25
5 - LETTERFRACK [Christian Brothers] 28
6 - THE NATIONAL PARK 31
7 - Derryinver Bridge 34
8 - LETTERHILL 37
9 - CNOCHAN NA TEAMPEALL 40
10 - RENVYLE CASTLE [Granuaile] 42
11 - RUSHEENDUFF [Oliver Gogarty] 46

12 - RUSHEENDUFF [Blake] 50
13 - CRAMP ISLAND 54
14 - CHAPEL HOUSE & CILLIAN 56
15 - TULLY 58
16 - TULLYCROSS (Village) 62
17 - TULLYCROSS (Church) 65
18 - LETTERGESH 68
19 - ROSROE 70
20 - FAMINE WALK & Killary Sheep Farm/scuba diving 75
21 - LEENANE 78
22 - DOOLOUGH 80
23 - CROAGH PATRICK 82
24 - MEAMTRASNA and surrounding area 86
25 - CONG 89
26 - MAAM / MAAM CROSS 92
27 - ROSMUC 94
28 - ROUNDSTONE 97
29 - BALLYCONNEELY 99

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30 - CLIFDEN [John Darcy] 102
31 - CLIFDEN [Marconi / Sky Road / Alcock & Brown] 105
32 - Connemara - HERITAGE & HISTORY Centre/ 108
111
Dan O’Hara’s 114
33 - BALLYNAHINCH 116
34 - INISHBOFIN 119
35 - OTHER ISLANDS 121
36 - SALERNA
37 - CLEGGAN & local archaeology

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Foreword

As you travel around Renvyle and its Scenic Environs perhaps
on two wheels, in your open-top car or your shiny prestigious
limousine you may come across sights and scenes that will
grab your attention and may even have the WOW! factor.
That’s when you might like to get more familiar, close and
personal with such magnificent, stunning scenery and the
history and heritage of the subject of your attention. If you’re
constricted and limited with time it might take too long to
make an in-depth study of whatever attracts your fancy.
That’s where this book comes in handy. Without going into
too much detail, some research is done for you with a few
photographs included for your reading interest and pleasure
right here at your finger-tips. This may help you plan your
itinerary taking in spectacular scenery, maybe local
anecdotes, legends as well as recorded documentary history
and heritage. With that under your belt you’re well equipped
to drop your anchor and enjoy everything Renvyle & its
Scenic Environs have to offer.
Even if you’ve never set foot in the place before, reading
stories of famous people in or connected with Renvyle and its
Scenic Environs may help a pint of Guinness reach its
destination or a glass of wine warm the cockles of your heart.
Without further ado let’s get going! Many of these well-
known people had more than tenuous connections with
particular locations in or within a reasonably short radius of
Renvyle, especially when one considers Renvyle to be a
peninsula. Keep it handy for future reference as this book
may not be out of date for a long time and it may be read by
your great-grandchildren! Perhaps you should sign it and
date it for posterity and get the author’s signature as well if
you can. It also contains a little information about suggested

9

walks, beaches, mountains, holy wells, bogs, megalithic
tombs, standing stones, legends, hedge-schools, forges,
famine walks, islands, old churches, saints off the coast but
they are kept short as long stories are for other books.

● Walks: - Quay Road/Gurteen Road; High road/Low
Road; Margaret Sammon Memorial Walk.

● Beaches: - The White Strand, Tully, Lettergesh,
Glassilaun.

● Mountains: -Letterhill, Diamond Hill, Dubruach,
Marconi Hill.

● Holy wells: - Cnocan na Teampeall, Maimein.
● Bogs: - Lough Inagh, Feichtaig / Derryinver Bridge.
● Megalithic tombs & standing stones: - Cleggan,

Letterhill.
● Legends: - Legends about Granuaile , Cramp island

and Chapel House.
● Hedge school: Cloonluane
● Forge: - Tully.
● Famine walks; - Killary Famine Walk.
● Islands: -Bofin, Cramp, Clare and Inisturk.
● Old churches: - Cnochan na Teampeall, Chapel

House, Protestant Church on Low Road.
● Local saints: - Sts. Colman, Feichin, Leo, Gormgall &

Rioch.
10

Renvyle
&

its Scenic
Environs

11

12

No 1
ILLAUNROE – one-time home of Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde
1. On a frosty day 23rd December 1853 William Wilde took a

150-year lease on 9 acres of land at Illaunroe as an early
Christmas present for his beloved. He subsequently built
a holiday home for himself, his wife Jane Francesca (nee
Elgee), and his sons William and Oscar. He also had at
least three other children – regarded then as
‘illegitimate’ children - a son whom he called Henry
Wilson (=son of Wilde in 1838) and two daughters Emily
(1847) and Mary (1851). The rent was £1 per year
payable in two halves on 1st May and 1st November each
year.
2. This lease was purchased from Col. Alexander Thomson
of Salruck who came into possession of it through his
marriage to the widow of General Charles Miller from

13

Kilmaine who got killed in the Peninsular Wars of 1807-
1814.
3. Just over two years earlier William (later Sir William) and
Jane married on 12th November 1851 in St Peter’s
Church, Aungier St, Dublin that is now demolished. They
lived at 21 Westland Row and at this address Oscar Fingal
O’Flaherty Wills Wilde was born on 16th October 1854.
The family soon moved to nearby No 1 Merrion Square.
The famous poet and playwright Oscar was imprisoned
and disgraced as a homosexual in England in 1895, but
today he is honoured as one the greatest Irish writers.
Apart from his poetry, plays and novels he is best
remembered for his wit, sarcasm and epigrams. After his
release from prison he went to Paris while neither of his
two sons then aged 12 and 11 ever saw him again. He
died in poverty from meningitis in Hotel d’Alsace in Paris
on 30th November 1900 aged 46.
He is buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris where his
tomb is like a national shrine. He married Constance
Lloyd on 29thMay 1884 and they had two sons - Cyril born
in June 1885 and Vyvyan in Nov 1886.
4. She was refused admittance to a hotel in Paris and other
places because of her name and her relationship to
Oscar. She later changed her own and the children’s
surname to Holland to protect her family and avoid the
glare of public scrutiny. She died in Genoa, Italy in April
1898 aged 39. A memorial statue depicting a nude
pregnant Constance is included in the Oscar Wilde
Memorial Sculpture in Merrion Square in Dublin.

14

Constance Wilde
A sculpture of Oscar chatting to another writer with a
similar name and look-alike named Eduard Vilde from
Estonia is part of the streetscape in Shop Street in
Galway. This was presented to Galway by the Estonian
government to mark its accession to the EU in 2004
when Ireland held the presidency of the European Union
at that time.
5. Although imprisoned in 1895 and treated harshly by the
British government his two sons joined the British Army
and fought in the 1st World War. The older son Cyril got
killed by a German sniper in May 1915, aged 29. Vyvyan
married Violet Craigue in 1913 and lived through the war.
She died from injuries in a fire in 1918. He got married a
second time in 1943 to Dorothy Besant and their only
child - Oscar’s only grandchild Merlin Holland - was born
in 1945. Merlin now lives in France. In 1954 Vyvian
published an autobiography called Son of Oscar Wilde.
He died in 1967.
6. Oscar inherited this house on Illaunroe from his father
but because of financial difficulties and bankruptcy he

15

sold it in January 1884 to John Doherty and John
MacSheehy. They later sold it to Philip Mack for £4,150 in
July 1895. Later Major Alexander Thomson, a grandson of
Colonel Alexander Thomson - who sold the lease to
William Wilde in 1853 - bought the lease back again and
it remains in the Thomson family ever since. This is one
of two holiday homes the Wildes had in the West. The
other one was Moytura House outside Cong where
Oscar’s grandmother Emily Finn inherited land at
Ballymacgibbon. That was reputed to be the site where
the ruling chieftains of Ireland the Fir Bolgs were
defeated in battle in mythological times by the
supernatural race of the Tuatha De Danann from whom
the present Irish race are thought to be descended.
7. A fresco by Oscar’s friend Frank Miles (1852-1891) from
his Oxford university days still remains on the wall in
Illaunroe. Miles, who was a famous and gifted artist,
visited Renvyle in the 1870s and swam naked in Lough
Fee. He specialised in portraits of society ladies. He
introduced Oscar to Lillie Langtry, a Jersey-born actress
of great beauty and charm of whom he painted an
exquisite portrait. She was one of numerous mistresses
and girlfriends of King Edward VII who landed at Leenane
in 1903. The king who was generally well-liked and ‘a
jolly old chap’ together with his wife Alexandra and
entourage drove past Oscar’s house on Wednesday 29th
July that year when they toured the scenic peninsula of
Renvyle.
8. If you’re fortunate enough to enjoy the privilege of
looking out through the window of Oscar’s parlour where
he loved to write some epigrams one can see striking
clear views across Lough Fee including a tranquil
bungalow where ‘Paddy Bike’ once lived. His father was

16

the first man in the area to own a bicycle so he became
known as ‘Michael Bicycle’
9. A few of Oscar’s epigrams which he may have composed
at Illaunroe:-

● Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
● I dislike arguments of any kind. They are

always vulgar and often convincing.
● I always pass on good advice. It is the only

thing to do with it. It is never of any use to
oneself.
● I can resist everything except temptation.
● Always forgive your enemies: nothing annoys
them so much.
● When I was young I thought that money was
the most important thing in life; now that I am
old I know that it is.
● Anyone who lives within their means suffers
from a lack of imagination.
● My own business bores me to death; I prefer
other peoples’.
● I like men who have a future and women who
have a past.
● Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
● I am so clever that sometimes I don’t
understand a single word of what I am saying.

17

No 2
KYLEMORE

Kylemore Abbey
1. Kylemore Abbey, formerly Kylemore Castle nestled at the

base of a steep mountain named Dubruach, welcomes in
excess of a half million visitors per year. It is one of the
most popular tourist attractions in the west of Ireland,
employing about 150 during the summer and about 100
year round.
2. It was built as a token of love by Mitchell Henry for his
young bride Margaret Vaughan from Dromore, Co. Down.
His mother Elizabeth Brush also came from (Killinchy) Co
Down. They both fell in love with Kylemore while on their
honeymoon in Connemara after getting married in St
Peter’s Protestant Church in Phibsboro, Dublin in August
1849.
3. Mitchell Henry who was born in Manchester of Irish
ancestry on 23rdJuly 1826 is synonymous with Kylemore.
He had a soft spot for ‘the old sod’ and stated that not a

18

drop of blood flowed through his veins except Irish
blood. He inherited a lot of wealth when his father
Alexander Henry, affluent cotton merchant died in 1862.
As a young medical doctor, he then purchased an estate
of approximately 8,500 acres in Kylemore, abandoned his
medical career as a senior consultant in favour of
becoming a landlord and also a politician. He paid
approximately £9,500 – just over £1 an acre. It took a
hundred men four years (1867 – 1871) to build this castle
at a cost of just over £29,000. It was designed by James
Franklin Fuller who also designed an addition to Ashford
Castle (1875 to 1884) then owned by the Guinness
family. When that was completed Franklin Fuller
designed the present Farmleigh House –the present-day
official Irish State guest house at Castleknock in Dublin
one of many places owned by the Guinness family at that
time.
4. The Henrys had 9 children (5 daughters and 4 sons: John
1850, Margaret 1851, Marie 1855, Alexander 1857,
Forward 1864, Geraldine 1865, Lorenzo 1866, Violet
1868 and Florence 1870). Sadly, his wife Margaret died in
1874 from dysentery aged 45 while on a family holiday in
Egypt. Her body was brought back in a glass coffin and
placed in a specially-built mausoleum. He built the
nearby neo-Gothic cathedral in her memory. The inside
features coloured marbles from each of the four
provinces. In the other direction from the cathedral in
Kylemore the 6-acre Victorian walled gardens should not
be missed if at all possible.
5. He established the Manchester Evening News which he
intended to keep only for a short time. The 1st edition on
the 10th October 1868 was to help him become better
known and get elected as an MP which he did, but

19

subsequently the paper continued to prosper (under
different ownership). It’s still going strong and is now the
best-selling evening newspaper in the UK. He was MP for
Galway County from 1871-1886 when he lost his seat in
the House of Commons.
6. Mitchell Henry died on 22nd November 1910 aged 84, a
disillusioned and broken-hearted man practically
impoverished as he was obliged to sell his Kylemore
Estate for just £63,000. What could he do when it was on
the market for nine years with no takers! - until a man
whose father-in-law had money came along. It was then
sold in 1903 to the 9th Duke of Manchester, William
Montague who was twenty-six years old at that time.
While many people are keenly interested in Mitchell
Henry and his family they should perhaps have a look at
Willie’s ancestry also. This guy’s reputation as a
spendthrift filled many columns of newspaper gossip.

William Montague-Duke of Manchester
20

When his grandmother who was already a duchess
remarried another duke after his grandfather died she
became known as the ‘Double Duchess’.
7. His two sons and two daughters seemed to have led
interesting lives too with his second son Edward Eugene
marrying five times. He had little interest in Kylemore
and the Benedictine Nuns purchased it from the banks in
1920 after they foreclosed on the mortgage of the
extravagant duke. The nuns had been routed from their
base in Ypres in Belgium during the 1st World War. They
came to Ireland –Wexford first - and established a
secondary school for Catholic girls in Kylemore which
continued until 2010.

21

No 3
LOUGH INAGH VALLEY

1. For beautiful natural scenery this is one place to find it in
abundance. God must have been in a happy mood when
this place was being formed in the Glacier Age about ten
thousand years ago.

Lough Inagh
2. Lough Inagh Lodge sometimes referred to as a quaint

hotel featured in ‘Marley & Me’ when Jennifer Aniston
and Owen Wilson visited Ireland on their honeymoon –
in the film – in 2008. Many locals including the author
participated as ‘extras’ in this film. The Labrador retriever
puppy in the film was named after Bob Marley.

22

3. This hotel had been a hunting and fishing lodge for
Richard Martin MP also known as ‘Nimble Dick’ who
owned Ballynahinch Castle.
A short distance away up a side road St Patrick rested
and slept in Leaba Padraig at a place called Mamein after
spending forty days and nights on Croagh Patrick. The
first Sunday in August each year immediately after Reek
Sunday is known locally as Mamein Sunday. Fine crowds
but not thousands would gather for con-celebrated Mass
and the Stations of the Cross with usually a bishop and a
number of priests in attendance at the holy well and
specially-built altar.

Mamein
4. Lough Inagh is a good freshwater lake for salmon and

brown trout but you must have a permit to fish on it. Its
main primary inflow is the Gleninagh River and its
primary outflow is Derryclare Lough. Two of the 12 Bens -
Derryclare (2,221 feet/677 metres) and Bencorr
(2,333/711 metres) - directly overlooking the lake,

23

sweep down to the edge of Lough Inagh on one side and
across the road on the other side are the Mamturk
Mountains. The little river that flows from the Mamturks
into Lough Inagh was the boundary that separated
Nimble Dick’s vast estate of approximately 200,000 acres
from Mitchell Henry’s more modest but far more
productive domain of roughly 8,500 acres. Though
adjoining landowners, these two men never met as
Nimble Dick skipped it to France in 1828 to escape his
debts. Mitchell Henry was born in Manchester in 1826.
5. The longest serving prisoners in Ireland were John Shaw
and Geoffrey Evans from Lancashire. They were out on
bail for three rapes in England when they came to Ireland
and abducted Mary Duffy in Castlebar in September
1976. The horrendous torture they put her through is too
heinous to be detailed here. Her body was subsequently
found at the bottom of Lough Inagh. They were
eventually captured and convicted. They both died in jail
after nearly forty years.
6. The Lough Inagh Road was sometimes long ago referred
to as the Rosary Road, why? If you started saying the
rosary at the beginning of it you’d just about have it
finished when you reached the end! This road which is
liable to flooding in rainy weather runs through Inagh
Valley which separates the Maumturk Mountains from
the Twelve Bens. The surrounding hills and grazing lands
are conducive to sheep farming and also good fertile
ground for tree planting as well as producing top quality
turf.
7. This area because of its natural scenic attractions
featured in The Stolen Child, one of about six episodes of
the TV series Single-Handed made around the turn of the
millennium.

24

No 4
LETTERFRACK

[John Ellis]

1. The lovely village of Letterfrack was established by
Quakers and humanitarians John Ellis and his wife Mary
from Bradford in England. They had just retired from
business aged about 56 when they decided to come to
Connemara to help out with the destitution of the Great
Famine victims in the mid-nineteenth century. They
leased approximately 1,800 acres and set about
alleviating some of the dire hardship encountered by the
local people at that time. Apart from the houses they
built, they also established a dispensary, a temperance
hotel, a shop, a school and other buildings. They offered
food and sustenance and helped farmers and fishermen
with boats and nets and in numerous other ways.

Letterfrack
25

Many of the houses they built including their own private
residence are still in everyday use today. After about
seven years Mary died and John returned to England
after selling his estate to a successor named John Hall.
2. A tragic incident similar in many respects to the
Meamtrasna Murders happened in Letterfrack in April
1881. Myles Joyce from Meamtrasna now completely
exonerated, was pardoned by the government in 2018,
138 years after he was wrongfully hanged in Galway Gaol
in 1882. Many people expect and hope that someday
Patrick Walsh who was also hanged in Galway Gaol by
the same hangman William Marwood from Lincolnshire
in September 1882 will also be exonerated and pardoned
too.
Letterfrack was a great place for cattle-fairs in days gone
by but they are now gone for good. People walked
behind cattle and drove them for miles starting long
before the crack of dawn to get to Letterfrack to receive
what they regarded as a good price for their livestock. On
many occasions a farmer might have sold all his stock
before he got to the fair at all as he could be approached
along the way and a fair bargain might be made with a
jobber to purchase his cattle.
The three pubs there would be busy because of so much
commercial activity taking place on the streets outside
their doors. A police station was located a few metres
away if celebrations or anything got out of hand on these
special days or any time. Modern-day marts and online
sales have replaced the fair days but they are a poor
substitute for the social interaction of the fair days of
long ago.

26

Today the pubs are renowned for traditional Irish music
and superb food, convivial atmosphere and generally
good craic. As well as pubs and shops Letterfrack always
had its own post office and still has one. It also has a
woodworking college as part of GMIT for third level
students who come from all over the country. A local
radio station is also based in Letterfrack.

27

No 5
LETTERFRACK
[Christian Brothers]

1. John Hall and his wife Mary were the opposite of their
predecessors John and Mary Ellis in so far as they were
Irish Church Mission evangelists who would help local
people with food on the basis of them changing their
religion to become Protestants. They disliked
Catholicism.

2. They retained the estate for approximately 25 years from
1857 to 1882 and were determined that it should not fall
into Catholic hands but eventually it was sold to Catholic
Archbishop of Tuam Dr John McEvilly.

3. Edmund Ignatius Rice, a Kilkenny man born in Callan in
June 1762 established the Christian Brothers in
Waterford in 1802. He was a successful livestock trader
who was married with a daughter.

Old Industrial School
28

After his wife Mary died and his disabled daughter also
named Mary was born on his wife’s deathbed he devoted
his life to the education of the poor. He established both
the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers.
Initially they didn’t just educate the boys, they clothed
and fed them as well and their schools quickly spread
and were established throughout Ireland and all over the
world. The Christian Brothers set up Letterfrack Industrial
School in 1887. There was no corporal punishment at the
beginning but that changed and so did everything else.
4. Young boys from about 6 to 16 were incarcerated there
sometimes hundreds of miles from their own homes,
many for minor offences, maybe mitching from school
and some who didn’t break the law at all, who were
merely ‘illegitimate’ or from broken homes but mainly
they came there because of poverty.
5. While undoubtedly some got education and good
training in trades such as cobbling, tailoring, carpentry
and other trades, sadly the notoriety of Letterfrack today
is more about the physical and sexual abuse that was
carried on there. A sad and poignant ‘Boys’ Cemetery’
with about 77 bodies aged from about 6 to 16 remain
interred there.
6. A number of inmates subsequently wrote books about
the torture, cruelty and sadism they experienced. One of
these named Peter Tyrell from Ahascragh Co Galway was
confined there for 8 years aged 8 in 1924. After his
release he joined the British Army and was a POW
(prisoner of war) in Fallingbostel concentration camp in
Germany during the Second World War until it was
liberated on 16th April 1945. Many soldiers died there
including Americans, Belgians, Poles, Italians, British,
Yugoslavians, Slovakians, South Africans and Dutch as

29

well as 30,000 Russian POWs alone. He stated it was like
heaven in comparison to Letterfrack! Subsequently he
committed a gruesome suicide by burning himself alive in
Hampstead Heath, London in 1967.
Notwithstanding the torture and cruelty he experienced,
Peter was generous and wholesome in his praise for
some of the ‘brothers’ and their kindness to him and
others in Letterfrack, especially around Christmas time
each year. Some of these brothers ended up in prison
and mental homes. It will probably never be established
now whether their cruelty caused their mental condition
or vice versa.
7. The industrial school was closed down as a matter of
shame in 1974. The property was purchased cheaply
from the archdiocese which was only too keen to get rid
of it off their hands to a locally-based community
development company. Nowadays as that history fades
into oblivion the village and its hinterlands are thriving
once again and trying to forget about the sad history ‘the
monks’ left behind them.

30

No 6
THE NATIONAL PARK

1. The National Park in Letterfrack is one of six National
Parks in Ireland. The others are in Ballycroy, Co Mayo,
The Burren, Co Clare, Glenveagh, Co Donegal, Killarney,
Co Kerry and the Phoenix Park in Dublin. These are
landscapes of great natural beauty. Sometimes when
people are asked what is in the national park, they don’t
know what to say except it is an enclosed park of great
natural beauty ‘that is not materially altered by human
exploitation where visitors can visit for inspirational,
educational, cultural and recreational purposes’!

The National Park
2. The most prominent feature of this park is Diamond Hill

where you can follow a mapped pathway right to the
very peak, from where you can enjoy panoramic views
out over Clifden, the Atlantic Ocean including many

31

islands, numerous parts of Co Mayo including Croagh
Patrick and of course Kylemore Abbey and many other
places.
3. There are five different walking routes marked out in
different colours on maps located prominently near the
base. These range from short walks at the bottom of the
mountain to gradually more strenuous ones and then the
whole climb to the top. There is also an interpretative
centre and a coffee shop at the base and a playground
for children.
4. On Easter Sunday mornings a Dawn Mass is celebrated
less than half way up that commences in darkness and
before it concludes panoramic views over the entire
surrounding landscape appear as if magically to
everyone’s amazement. Many non-regular church-goers
attend this annual celebration.
5. Unfortunately, this beautiful park because of its
proximity to the industrial school is associated with a
dark period in Irish history. In 1849 John Ellis leased
1,800 acres from Robert Graham. Due to ill health and his
wife’s death he sold it to John Hall in 1857 who in turn
sold it to John McEvilly Archbishop of Tuam in 1882 for
£3,000. [Source –NUIG Landed Estates database]
6. The Christian Brothers established an industrial school
there which opened on 12th October 1887 and closed on
30th June 1974 having incarcerated 1,356 boys between
those dates. Some of this land was taken over by the
Congested Districts’ Board in 1916 and the rest is now
the National Park. A woodworking college which is a
branch of GMIT is located on another part of the original
estate.
7. Citylink Bus runs regular scheduled daily bus services
between Letterfrack and Galway city.

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8. This park commenced on a bad footing with tension
between them and some local people who were refused
permission to obtain a water supply from the
mountainside. Some farmers were harassed and
threatened and maybe even brought to court over their
animals trespassing on the national park ground while
national park animals allegedly trespassed on privately
owned grounds. It was also alleged park rangers were
engaged in throwing newly-cut turf down into the
hollow-bogs of farmers while it was subsequently
discovered that the wrong people’s turf was interfered
with and numerous such stories circulated in the vicinity
when the park was first established in the 1980s.
Relations have much improved since those times.
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No 7
Derryinver Bridge

1. The bridge at Derryinver over the Dawros River contains
much sad history. As members of Mitchell Henry’s family
were enjoying a day’s excursion from Kylemore Castle
through the scenic Renvyle peninsula, a tragic accident
occurred right at this bridge on a sunny afternoon at the
equinox of September 1892.

2. Henry’s daughter Geraldine Gilbert who was married to
Edward Hooker Gilbert a prominent businessman, was
back from Ware in Hampshire County, Massachusetts on
holidays. She was travelling in a carriage with her
daughter Elizabeth. Two spirited horses harnessed to her
four-wheeled phaeton panicked and in the midst of the
panic the carriage overturned. The young mother, the
seven-month-old baby and the nanny were thrown out
onto the rocks at the twin-arched stone-built bridge.
Sadly, Geraldine Gilbert aged 27 got killed. Her
devastated father Mitchell described her ‘as the flower of
my flock’. She had already lost two children in infancy:
Geraldine Henry Gilbert, just 2 days old and her son
Mitchell Henry Gilbert who was born and died in 1891.
Geraldine’s body was brought back to Ware in
Massachusetts and laid to rest in Aspen Grove Cemetery
where the affluent Gilbert family had long contributed
generously to the upkeep and welfare of the town and its
cemetery.

3. The young baby girl who thankfully survived the
horrendous accident - Elizabeth Vaughan Gilbert went on
to live a long life. She was born on 5th Feb 1892, married
George H Timmins in December 1913, had two children
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Geraldine and Elizabeth and died in 1984 aged 92.
Elizabeth married Malcolm Stone and they had 4
children: Edith, George Timmins Stone, Florence and
Nancy.

4. Life is not rushed in Connemara! More than 133 years
after that horrendous tragedy a plaque commemorating
the sad death of the third daughter of Mitchell and
Margaret Henry was erected by the Benedictine Nuns of
Kylemore Abbey. It was unveiled by Geraldine’s great-
grandson George Timmins Stone on 28th April 2016.

5. Two years afterwards Kylemore Castle was put up for
sale but it was a further nine years before it was sold to
William Montague 9th Duke of Manchester for only
£63,000 in 1903, while Mitchell Henry was practically
impoverished. What could he do when no better offers
were forthcoming! The old bridge, the remains of which
are still there has since been replaced with a new one.
35

Derryinver Bridge
36

No 8
LETTERHILL

1. This mountain is one of the most prominent physical
features of the landscape in the Renvyle peninsula. Its
elevation is 356 metres or about 1170 feet. The view
from the top is worth the effort climbing it. On the top
there are three small lakes with bogs up there also.

Letterhill
2. Not too long ago, people used cut turf on the top and

children would bring a few sods with them as they
crossed the mountain on their way to school to heat the
old building when they got to Eagle’s Nest national
school. This school is reputed to have replaced an old
hedge-school in Cloonluane. Hedge schools were usually
small informal and illegal schools set up during the Penal
Days when only schools for those of the Anglican Faith
were permitted. Even though their name might suggest
outdoor schooling next to a hedge they were often

37

indoors in barns and in private homes with a hedge
school master who was ‘one of their own’. They were
replaced eventually in the 1830s after Catholic
Emancipation was achieved by Daniel O’Connell and
others, when national schools for all children including
Catholics were established.
3. One of the teachers in Eagle’s Nest long ago – a Mr
Coyne is thought to have composed a song espousing the
beauty and the tranquillity of Renvyle. In recent years it
has been recorded for posterity – Renvyle by the Sea.
4. Climbers of Letterhill usually start at the Derryinver end
of it, either on the Letter side near Derryinver pier or on
the front, looking down over Tullycross where one has to
cross over some wire fences at the beginning to start the
climb. A person could also start at the Cashleen end
where they might find a route that is not too steep.
There is no set pathway so climbers must navigate their
own itinerary. A drink and some food, maybe a packed
lunch, might go down well at the peak and of course
don’t forget the camera or the phone to capture vivid
memories that will remain with you for a long time. If
you make it to the top you won’t find many nicer places
to have a picnic if you have prepared and brought the
necessary food and drink with you.
5. One of the most alluring walks in Ireland is along the
back of Letterhill or what is the ‘sunny side’. Start
anywhere you get parking around Derryinver Pier and
just keep on walking till you come to the end and then
turn around and walk back to where you started. The
memories of this beautiful scenic walk will stay with you
a long time.
6. At the Cashleen end a cave known to very few even local
people called ‘Holleran’s Cave’ is located in a disguised

38

position for many millennia. It came in handy when the
Black and Tans scoured the locality looking for
republicans during the War of Independence but the
Tans had little chance of locating this cave.
7. Near the base of Letterhill there are megalithic standing
stones, a prehistoric ritual site whose alignment has
special significance as the sun sets at the summer solstice
when it reaches its northernmost point. And some
people say that at quarter past midnight on the 21st
December the moon is reputed to be aligned directly
overhead these stones! Though no arguments are known
to have taken place in the pub about these so-called
facts. Megalithic sites such as this one, Newgrange and
many others perhaps were like ancient clocks, simply
methods of measuring time especially at the summer and
winter solstices when the difference in the length of each
day preceding and succeeding the solstice was minute!
8. From the top of Letterhill the views are spectacular in
every direction. There is no fee for climbing but climbers
should close gates after them as this is what’s known as
commonage.

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No 9
CNOCHAN NA TEAMPEALL

1. There are about five graveyards in Renvyle and one of
the largest is Cruachan na Teampeall (Hill of the Church).
The ruins of an ancient Catholic Church are still standing
there at their own risk – that is there is no body official or
otherwise taking special care of them. Graveyards
sometimes can be compared with museums because it is
where the real relics and artefacts pertaining to now-
deceased individuals are stored and preserved for
evermore.

Ancient Church Walls
2. This church known as the Church of the Seven Daughters

was built by the King of Leinster or a local chieftain in
thanksgiving for his daughter’s sight being restored. The
O’Toole’s of Leinster settled near Omey in the early
1550s under the protection of the O’Flahertys. A Holy

40

Well now neglected and overgrown beside the cemetery
was reputed in olden times as having curative properties
for failing eyesight as well as cures for animals. Its history
goes back to long before the Reformation. Granuaile
lived in Renvyle Castle a hundred yards or so away in the
16th century. As a Catholic who never switched her
religion though she may have been under pressure to do
so, she probably went to Mass there each Sunday if she
wasn’t out at sea pirating and her children Eoin,
Murrough and Maeve may well have made their first
Holy Communion there as well. She may also have used
the holy well as her source of freshwater! and maybe for
washing her clothes!
3. Not everyone was allowed to be buried in this cemetery.
Another place was set aside for unbaptised babies. One
of the inherent rights of Catholics who contributed
regularly to the upkeep of their clergy and church was to
be buried in their local cemetery.
4. At a burial there one time, a local man was overheard
saying as the coffin was being lowered into the ground:
‘He’ll never again come up out of there!’ His friend
beside him confirmed: ‘That’s for sure, not for at least a
thousand years anyway’. Less than twenty seconds later
up again he was raised (not from the dead! just from the
grave). A large stone protruding from the side of the
grave prevented the coffin from going down. When it
was removed the deceased was lowered again, this time
permanently.
5. Yanks sometimes fill bottles with water from the holy
well and take it back with them to America to bring good
luck to themselves and their families.
6. One time you could buy your own resting place but now
you must die first!

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No 10
RENVYLE CASTLE

[Granuaile]

1. Renvyle Castle, sometimes called Curragh Castle is
synonymous with Granuaile - a sixteenth century pirate-
queen who was born in 1530 at Belclare near the
foothills of Croagh Patrick in Co Mayo. At 16 she married
Donal O'Flaherty, son and heir of the chieftain of almost
all Connemara who lived at Ballinahinch Castle. She bore
him two sons Eoin and Murrough and one daughter
Maeve. The O’Malleys and the O’Flahertys were two
fearsome tribes but when they united through the
marriage of Grace O’Malley (Granuaile) and Donal
O’Flaherty in 1546 it was a brave clan that would stand
up to them. That’s what the Joyce Clan of Joyce Country
did in 1565 when Donal got killed fighting over Hen’s
Castle on an island in Lough Corrib. This castle is
considered to be the oldest and one of the best built
fortresses of its kind in Ireland.

2. Legend says this almost-impregnable castle with rocks
sloping abruptly to the water on all sides was built by a
magic hen for the O’Flahertys. With her magic power it
would be safe and secure forever so long as the hen was
looked after. Many years later severe weather conditions
forced the residents to eat the hen when their food
supplies ran out and soon afterwards the Hen’s Castle
was attacked by the Joyces. It can still be seen to this day
when passing by on the main road.

3. Then as a widow at the time Granuaile was dispossessed
of Renvyle Castle and she went back home to her family
in Mayo. She built up a fleet of ships she had inherited
42

from her father and sailed across the waters to the
Renvyle coast from where legend has it she attacked
Renvyle Castle with a cannonball leaving it destroyed and
it remains as such to this day.
4. The inhabitants who included some of her own relations
through marriage scurried for their lives and they set up
base where Renvyle Hotel now stands today.

Renvyle Castle
That became the O’Flahertys’ base until they were
dispossessed in the following century. Legends suggest
this castle was built originally about a hundred to two
hundred years earlier by the Joyces but the O’Flahertys
took it forcibly from them after murdering all the
attendees but one at a wedding. The one survivor (like
the Ballyseedy Massacre) lived to tell the tale.
5. Through robbing and raiding, plunder and pillage
Granuaile acquired considerable influence and wealth
which was counted in the number of castles and heads of
cattle of which she possessed approximately one

43

thousand. The O’Malleys and the O’Flahertys had already
dotted the coastline with their robust castles from
Bunowen in Ballyconneely, Curragh in Renvyle, Westport,
Carraigahowley outside Newport, Achill Beg and Clare
Island where she is reputed to be buried.
6. Renvyle Castle is now on privately-owned property and is
not open to the public but stupendous views from there
can be enjoyed looking out over the ocean and the idyllic
islands of Inisturk, Clare Island, Freighelaun, Cahir Island,
Sole Island and several others.
7. To settle who reigned supreme in Renvyle and West
Mayo she sailed to London to meet Queen Elizabeth I in
Greenwich Castle in 1593 where they both spoke in Latin
as neither of them spoke in the other’s native tongue.
They got on surprisingly well but Granualie who carried a
hidden dagger refused to curtsy the queen as she did not
regard her as Queen of Ireland. When handed a lace
handkerchief after sneezing she threw it into the fire.
Then as now, though they reached an accord neither side
adhered to it. Elizabeth and herself died within a few
months of each other, Elizabeth on 24th March 1603,
aged 69 and Granuaile on 18th June 1603, aged 73.
8. One of the final scenes in The Purple Taxi was shot close
to Renvyle Castle in 1977. This film starred Fred Astaire,
Charlotte Rampling and Peter Ustinov and others who
mixed freely with locals and enjoyed their company in
the evenings in Wallace’s Pub in Tully. It was based on
one of numerous novels by Michel Deon, a French-born
writer who lived outside Loughrea in Co Galway for over
forty years where he died aged 97 in 2016.
9. The castle also featured in Riders to the Sea based on
John Millington Synge’s novel of the same name. This

44

film was shot in 1935. Other scenes were shot on
Lettergesh Beach.

45

No 11
RUSHEENDUFF
[Oliver Gogarty]

1. Oliver St John Gogarty, a one-time resident of
Rusheenduff was born into wealth and privilege at No 5
Parnell Square, Dublin in 1878. He was an
otolaryngologist and his father and grandfather before
him were medical doctors too. His mother’s surname was
Oliver – from a flour-milling family in Galway city and
that’s probably where he got his first name from. As well
as being wealthy and educated, the Gogartys also owned
about five acres of land in Glasnevin.

2. He wore so many different hats they could hardly all fit
on one head. As well as being a doctor he was also a
poet, a playwright, a biographer, an aviator earning a
pilot’s licence and helping to found the Irish Aero Club,
an athlete, a cyclist, a politician, a great wit, a keen
motorist owning a number of cars including a Rolls
Royce, a raconteur and a hotel owner. While at
Clongowes Wood College he played soccer for
Bohemians FC and also cricket and while at Stonyhurst in
Lancashire he played briefly for Preston North End FC. He
rescued at least four people from drowning between
1898 and 1901.

3. In September 1904 together with James Joyce (- life is
too short to read a bad book!) and an Oxford friend
Samuel Chenevix Trench they took a lease (until 1925) on
Martello Tower but it didn’t last long (about six days) due
to midnight antics with a loaded revolver. Gogarty and
Joyce fell out and never mended the row after Joyce left
abruptly.
46

4. He had the unusual habit of honing in on an impediment
or a disability of a person and making fun of it to the
discomfiture of the individual. He wrote some ribald and
bawdy verse even about his friends including Willie
Yeats.

5. He didn’t have a high regard for James Joyce, Padraic
Colum, Patrick Kavanagh and many other writers and in
many cases the feelings were mutual. Colum stated that
Gogarty ‘had a defect that prevented him being a
companionable man.’ while Gogarty said: Padraic ‘is a
good little man but his wife is rancid.’

6. Gogarty became interested in Irish nationalism and
contributed pieces to The United Irishman. In 1905
together with Arthur Griffith and others he was one of
the founding members of Sinn Fein a non-violent political
movement.

7. He married Martha Duane in August 1906 and they had
three children: Noll (Oliver Duane Odysseus) 1907,
Dermot 1908 and Brenda 1911. He purchased Renvyle
House Hotel in 1917 for £3,095 and invited some of his
literary and political friends to come round and stay
there for free which didn’t contribute much towards
paying the bills.

8. While Ernest Albert Waterlow was a guest there he
painted a famous picture of an old-style cottage in
Rusheenduff called Galway Gossips in 1887 which hung
in the Tate Gallery for many years.
47

Galway Gossips 1887
9. W B Yeats and Georgiana Hyde-Lees spent some of their

honeymoon in October 1917 in Gogarty’s hotel in
Rusheenduff. They were both interested in occultism,
spiritualism and séances. While enjoying their romantic
vacation Georgiana contacted a ghost who they later
understood to be Ethelred, a son of Henry Blake who was
born in 1824 and committed suicide in one of the rooms
there in 1838.
10. Gogarty was a friend of Michael Collins whom he
embalmed in August 1922 about two weeks after
embalming another friend Arthur Griffith. As a Free State
Senator he escaped with his life after being captured by
Republicans in Dublin during the Civil War. In revenge
Renvyle House was burned to the ground in February
1923 and he fled to England until hostilities ceased.
Together with his wife they commissioned the Harry
Clarke windows in Tullycross Church in 1927.
11. He found himself in court involving libel actions more
than once. He was sued and lost big money for

48

comments he made in his autobiography ‘As I Was Going
Down Sackville Street’. Later he sued ‘the poor farmer’
Patrick Kavanagh for frivolous remarks Kavanagh made
about him or rather about his wife’s attire. Gogarty won
but it was a pyrrhic victory for he lost many friends over
his petty vindictiveness. Kavanagh is a far better loved
Irish writer today than Gogarty. He left Ireland in 1939 on
a flying boat from Foynes and never returned except for
brief holidays while his wife Martha continued to manage
the hotel in Rusheenduff. Included in the purchase of
Renvyle Estate was Rusheenduff Lake and also Tully Lake
which he gifted to his daughter Brenda when she married
Desmond Williams in Tullycross Church in June 1945.
12. He died in New York on 22nd September 1957, aged 79
and was repatriated. He is buried alongside his wife
Martha and son barrister Noll at Cartron Cemetery
overlooking a beautiful lake in Ballinakill a few miles from
his beloved Renvyle.

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No 12
RUSHEENDUFF [Blake]

1. Long before Oliver Gogarty was ever heard of Henry
Blake was on the prowl looking for bargains in property.
Landlordism was in Blake’s blood from his exploits and
travails in Montserrat and other exotic places where
property was cheap and labour was free. As he was
getting ready to sell out his interests and his slaves in
Montserrat he wrote the following letter to his brother
John Blake who remained there:
Montserrat, 11thMay 1676

Dear Brother
I have this day delivered possession unto my cousin Edward
Bodkin of the plantation and ‘negers’ for your account, who
confessed judgement in your name for 106889 lbs sugar to be
paid unto me on the 1st May next, which is due after clearing
and balancing all accounts. I pray God will send you much joy
of it. If I may have occasion to draw on you for 20000 lbs
Sugar advise me thereof by the first. I intend it towards the
consignment from thence if I can receive any of their effects
here. . .
Your loving Brother, H Blake
2. The 14 Merchant Families known as the Tribes of Galway

and the citizens of Galway were by and large loyalists to
the King of England – something they paid dearly for
after Cromwell beheaded King Charles I on 30th January
1649. A well-known pub in the city called The King’s Head
got its name from its connection with this historical
event. Two years later Galway was besieged by

50