Visiting Irish Villages
May 12th 2008 10:59
Next on the cards was a trip around the village where my grandmother was sent from England during the war. Shramore is located on the West Coast of Southern Ireland in County Mayo. The village is built around a valley overlooking the lakes of Shramore with a bumpy road linking each farm house to the next.
When visiting in Ireland as soon as you walk through the door to any house big cups of steaming tea and plates of sandwiches, cakes and soda bread appear at the table and the chatter begins. Naturally you have to hear about everyone who has died and photo albums are brought out to go back through the family history and their private and public lives discussed in great detail. As the sun sets so the tea is replaced by large doses of whisky or potcheen (moonshine of extremely high potency) and the stories and lapses into the local lingo become more difficult to understand.... to be shure, to be shure!
The biggest town near Shramore is Newport which is located on the banks of the Brown Oak River. In the background the famous mountain Croagh Patrick overlooks the local area and a short drive up the road to the coast leads to views of Clew Bay with its 365 islands, one for each day of the year!
St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is said to have fasted for 40 days in 441 AD on the summit of Croagh Patrick where he defeated the devil and chased all the serpents from Ireland. Each year on the last Sunday of July, known as Reek Sunday, around 25 000 pilgrims make the climb in his memory. The discovery of a tiny church, carbon dated between 430 and 890 AD, confirms pilgrim activity and is one of the oldest churches in the country.
Clew Bay also has an interesting history. John Lennon purchased one of the 365 islands in 1967, called Dorinish, or locally as 'Beatle Island', after its famous owner. In 1970 Lennon invited Sid Rawle, known as 'King of the Hippies', to start a commune on the island where 25 hippies lived for 2 years until a fire broke out and burnt down the living areas. Lennon paid £1700 for it and it was sold by Yoko Ono for £30 000 after Lennon's death, the money being donated to an Irish orphanage.
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Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Yes it was certainly an interesting place where I really do hope you manage to visit. Try and get to this part of the country as it`s off the tourist beat.
More to follow shortly!
Ash
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
The history seeped right off the screen and into my bones with every word... how amazing - the parallel - between so many Saints and Ascended Masters who fasted for 40 days and then fought of deamons, serpents and even Satan himself!
Oh this is the stuff of life, and I think I said it once before that I would jsut love to spend my last days wandering all the old churches of antiquity.. mainly because I am like Robert Langdon and have all those flash images from the past to match the modern ones... all very stimulating...
Wonderful ... thanks for sharing.
Lilla ...
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
yes this is truly a magical land - so simple and basic yet so full of history. Wait until you see the Abbey i went to... ahhh it was magical! My great grandmother is buried there and we went in search of her tombstone, hidden now amongst the overgrown grass and moss.
There are so many ruins that scatter the landscape of Ireland and all the old walls that still define the ancient lands.
The summit of Croagh Patrick swirls in clouds almost constantly so you can imagine what it must have been like wandering around there, alone and lost in your spiritual world.
Hopefully you will get there one of these days - and with a Robert Langdon would make the journey even more exciting!
Ash
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
Perhaps why I really enjoy winter?
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
There is something so wonderful about growing up in wide open spaces and for me the smell is something that will never leave my nose. I hope one day youmanage to smell a true African thunderstorm - there is truly no other smell of rain like that... nothing that I have experienced in any place in the world I have been anyway.
Winter is the best season of all.... experiencing that snow storm a few months ago for me was pure heaven!
Ash