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| Hitching a Ride in Monivea |
The Generous Heart of Rural Ireland Still Beats
On
In spite of ongoing high emigration, the closure
of village post offices, Garda Stations, court-houses, livestock marts and
parish schools as well as the almost virtual disappearance of mixed farming and
the once omnipotent family farm brought about by decades of disastrous
government economic policies which have been totally bias in favour of
supermarket chains and the big rancher, the recent experiences of those who
participated in our Three Athenry Castles Looped Heritage Cycle Trail Tour
(organised by Cumann na bhFear) showed that the generous Meitheal (Irish term for working together) spirit of rural Ireland still lives on though somewhat
weaker than what it once was. Local communities and visionary individuals
across Ireland still battle against the odds to keep alive a flickering of the traditions, skills, stories,
beliefs, biodiversity and neighbourliness generosity that have defined our
island peoples for millennia.
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| Athenry Railway Station: Bikes & Riders |
For the first stage of our journey we travelled
by early morning train from Galway city (Ceannt) Station to Athenry. The
special discount return rate of €15 for passenger and bike was very reasonable.
Iarnroid Éireann staff were courteous and could not have done more in
accommodating bikes and riders into the railway carriages.
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| Athenry Castle |
Once in Athenry, we visited a number of the 13th
century Norman sites such as the Dominican Abbey that makes this town one of
the most important medieval locations in Ireland. We were then taken on a guided
tour by Fiona Cannon of the impressive castle that has very well preserved and is
an excellent example of medieval architecture and fortifications.
Then it was up on our bikes to travel at a
leisurely pace through the fields and bogs of Bingarra and Newcastle. We stopped off at Monivea Bog to look at
the myriad of mosses, trees, shrubs and flowers that thrive in this unique
raised bog that is defined as a Special Area of Conservation(SAC) under
European Union habitat directives. Bogs consist of partially decayed vegetation
known as Peat. When dried it is referred to as Turf, which has served as the
fuel for Irish homes since time immemorial. The smell of burning turf reignites
happy memories of childhood to many visiting Irish emigrants.
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| Monivea Bog |
But bogs such as that of Monivea act as carbon
sinks storing vast amounts of greenhouse gases and as important flood plains
soaking up huge amounts of water. Their wetland sponginess is what gives them their
name as the word Bog comes from the Irish word for soft.
Hence the confrontation that has developed
between the government and some local bog owners who continue to cut turf in contravention
of the ban. It must be pointed out though that the state has offered in return financial
compenstation and alternative bog sites deemed less important for wildlife. We
are one family that own land in the Monivea Bog that want to have it preservd
for posterity, to do our bit to combat climate change and to provide a
sanctuary for threatened wildlife.
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| Ffrench's Mausoleum |
We continued our journey to the ancestral demesne
of the Anglo-Irish Ffrench family now owned by Coillte where we cycled through
the enchanted woodlands to reach a strange looking building that has the
appearance of a miniature fairytale medieval castle. But it is in fact a
mausoleum completed in 1900 to receive the body of Robert Ffrench, the last
male landlord of Monivea and a member of the British diplomatic
service. Robert had married Sophia de Kindiakoff whose aristocractic family
owned large estates along the Volga river. Their only child Kathleen spent
considerable sums of her Russian wealth to hire a renowned designer and international experts to
built a structure made from Wicklow granite, Italian marble and German stained
glass windows. Its architectural grandeur in many ways symbolized the imperial
power of both Britain and Tsarist Russia. Yet within a few years of its
completion, Ireland had fought for and won its independence from an empire that
would soon be in terminal decline whilst Kathleen, as with many of the Russian
nobility, was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks with all her estates confiscated by
the new communist regime.
Next stop was the picturesque colonial village
of Monivea (Irish = Muine Mheá, meaning Meadow of the mead). Its geometric design was typical of the plantation towns of the 18th
century; the large green areas were formerly used for the drying of flax by the
local weavers who were brought from east Ulster by the Ffrenchs to establish a
local linen industry. The church that dominates one side of the street was
built to serve the religious needs of the newly arrived settlers. Sadly it now
lies in ruins and even sadder its former Protestant congregation are now almost
totally extant from the locality.
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| Vintage Tractor |
We arrived in the village on its busiest day of
the year. Monivea Fair takes place on the last Sunday of August.
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| Steam Power |
Its origins go
back to the great end-of-harvest fairs of times past when rural communities enjoy
some fun and frolics after a busy year of ploughing, lambing, digging, sowing,
cutting, collecting and threshing. Once the hard work was done and the crops were in, the
farmers and their families could sing, dance, play games, eat, drink and be
merry on the village green.
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| Food & Toy Stalls, Monivea Fair Day |
On our visit, we found the fair full of cake and toy
stalls, food vendors, a myriad of prize-winning geese, hens and sheep and exotic
pigs on show: fairground attractions; vintage tractors and classic cars; potato
picking races; martial arts displays and bouncing castles.
Some of the cyclists took part in a competition
to guess the weight of the sheep that they lifted!
After all the fun of the fair, re-invigorated
with food and drink, we remounted our bikes to continue our journey onto our next
destination.
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| Castle Ellen |
By the time we reached Castle Ellen, the rain was coming down fast
and furious. But for most of us this was part of the rural cycling experience.
Still it was nice to arrive at the Georgian mansion to be greeted at the
entrance and to be ushered inside by the owner Michael Keaney (Micheál Ó Cionnaith), his son
Diarmuid, manager Annette Flanagan, a walking talking human tree flanked by two knights
in shining armour, before being serenaded by a trio of musical troubadours, followed
soon after by hot beverages, cakes and sandwiches.
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| Michael McDonnell working at the Blacksmith forge |
We then took a stroll through the old Victorian
farmyard and its outbuildings many of which are in different stages of
renovation.
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| Woodturning, Castle Ellen |
As the grounds of Castle Ellen were open to the public as part of
National Heritage Week we were joined by hundreds of other visitors who were
treated to demonstrations of wood turning and blacksmithing (the latter by my fellow
Cumann na bhFear members), an art exhibition, multiple collections of
historical artifacts. The evening ended for us with a wonderful musical session
by Jerome and friends in the main dining room.
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| Art Expo, Castle Ellen |
Michael Keaney is a man of vision who hopes that
his country estate becomes a hostel for walkers, cyclists and those that want
to experience an alternative but authentic countryside. I sincerely hope that
this comes to pass and I will do my bit to make it so by organizing regular
cycle tours to this beautiful but almost unknown jewel in the Irish landscape.
None of our group wanted to leave this magical
place which was the highlight of an excursion that had so much to offer. But
time was moving on. So we once again mounted our bikes to take the road to Athenry.
The weather at this stage had turned nasty.
After repairing a flat tyre, we made it back to the quaint little 19th
century railway station to catch a night train back to Galway City.
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| Guard Dog, Athenry Railway Station |
See my previous article on the inaugural Three Athenry Castles tour
