The Connemara Heritage and History Centre

Roundhouse in the Ring Fort

Research for a new story lured me to the Connemara Heritage & History Centre. I wanted to see their reconstructions of a crannóg (a prehistoric island dwelling) and a ring fort. The Centre listed its GPS coordinates on its web site. My husband punched them in, and Gertrude, our trusty GPS, guided us south from Westport through Connemara's haunting hills and boglands.

Neatly tucked at the foot of a small mountain, the Heritage Centre provided a wonderful audiovisual history of the region, ranging from the first Neolithic settlers to modern times. We learned that the Galway-to-Clifden railway, which ran from 1895 to 1935, opened up the remote Connemara region to the outside world. In 1907, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who married an O’Brien, established the first commercial transatlantic wireless telegraph station on Derrygimla Bog, three miles south of Clifden, the “Capital of Connemara.” The station maintained a twenty-four-hour communication service between Ireland and Nova Scotia until 1922, when it was destroyed during the Irish Civil War.

View of the Crannóg

After browsing the center’s modest but fascinating museum, we explored the huts in the ring fort and visited the crannóg.

Crannógs are man-made islands built in lakes and rivers by prehistoric and medieval people. Six hundred or so have been found in Scotland, but they are more common in Ireland, where the remains of about 2,000 crannógs have been uncovered in the lakes of the midlands, the north, and northwest.

Posing Before the Crannóg

The classic image of these island settlements is of a platform on stilts topped by a roundhouse and surrounded by a protective plank or wattle palisade. We may never know their true purpose, but archaeological findings suggest they might have been defensive retreats, or ceremonial sites, or entire communities that included royal residences. The dwellings could be reached by boat or on foot by traversing slightly submerged causeways of stone or wood.

 

A Connemara Pony

 

View of Dan O'Hara's Homestead














The O'Hara Cottage





Next, we ventured up the side of the mountain to visit a small herd of Connemara ponies and the restored homestead of 19th century tenant farmer Dan O’Hara. This unfortunate man was evicted from his farm after putting glass in his windows, a home improvement that caused the landlord to raise his rent. Dan couldn’t pay, and he and his wife and seven children were shipped off to New York. His wife and three of the children didn’t survive the voyage.



Interior of the O'Hara Cottage

The Heritage Centre staff keeps a peat fire burning in the cottage hearth, as if Dan would be along for his tea any minute. Chickens had the run of the yard, and we met a pair of docile donkeys and their adorable baby. All in all, a fascinating snapshot of life in pre-famine Ireland.



Mom and Baby



Me and Dad



Foghorn O'Leghorn