Things to do
5-
Ashford Castle
A thirteenth-century de Burgo castle enlarged by the Guinness family into a Victorian estate on Lough Corrib, run as a hotel since 1939 and restored over four years to 2015. The grounds hold a falconry school and the Quiet Man was largely shot on them.
-
Cong Abbey
An Augustinian abbey of the twelfth century with some of the finest Romanesque carving in the country on its doorways, where the last high king Rory O'Connor died in 1198. The monks' fishing house is built out over the river so a net could ring a bell in the kitchen.
-
Inchagoill
A wooded island in Lough Corrib with two ruined churches and the Stone of Lugnaedon, which carries what may be the oldest Christian inscription in Europe outside the catacombs. It is reached by boat from Ashford or Oughterard, and the crossing runs in summer only.
-
Lough Corrib
The largest lake in the Republic at a hundred and seventy-six square kilometres, holding wild brown trout, a mayfly season that draws anglers from abroad, and the island monastery of Inchagoill. Boats run from Ashford and Oughterard, and the water is open and rough in wind.
-
Pigeon Hole
A collapsed limestone cave in the woods west of the village reached down sixty stone steps, where the underground river running from Lough Mask to Lough Corrib can be seen and heard. It floods and the steps are slick, and a torch is worth carrying.
