It is another beautiful day. We headed off northwest of Ballina.
Our first stop was Moyen Friary. We could see it across the farmers field but there was very little parking. It is a little hard to just park on a single lane road. Charles found an area where he could just pull off the road. The first sign we encountered was BEWARE OF THE BULL. Makes one a little leery to venture across the fields. Up over the rock stile over the fence to start our journey. There are a number of cows in the field but no BULL. The sign should have said "WATCH OUT FOR FRESH COW DUNG". Took lots of dexterity to avoid this. There was another stile to climb before we arrived at the Friary. Since we had a lot of info from the Sligo Friary, we were able to figure out a lot of the area in this Friary. This was a much bigger one. As one of the floors was stone we were able to go upstairs. In one area upstairs there were 4 holes in the floor with outlets to the outside. We think these may have been toilet areas giving drainage to the stream that runs through the Friary and out to the sea. No sure but it makes sense. This friary was very much intact. All the wooden parts have been lost to fire but the rock parts are there. Since this friary is out in the country side, maybe no one used the stones to build other buildings.
Stop 2 was called Céide Fields. This was an amazing archaeology site. The first evidence of rock walls was found by Patrick Caulfield in the 1930's. No one took his find seriously. His son Seamas became an archaeologist and started to expand the search for rock walls under the peat in the 1970's. Using a metal pole to probe through the peat they were able to find evidence of a well laid out plan of rock walls. The walls ran parallel up from the coast to the crest of the hill. There were cross walls as well to make up field or animal pen areas. There was also found evidence of where wooden houses would have stood. One court tomb was found in the vicinity. The area of these walls incorporates about 1000 hectares. Although we could not see much, the significance of this find is the unique insight into a highly organized farming system about 5000 years ago. This appears to be a very friendly community as no weapons were found. Do to climate change and the fact that the people of the time cleared all the trees, peat bogs slowly took over and covered up this piece of the past.
We thought we would get a down pour of rain while we were on the tour but it blow away from us. It was very windy and hard to hear the tour guide. One thing she told us about was that 2 plants in the bog eat insects.
Third stop was at the Foxford Woollen Mills. These mills were founded in 1892 by Mother Agnes Morrogh Bernard. Mother Agnes was a woman on a mission to improve the economic conditions of this area. She was a force to reckon with. First she started a school. When only a few students showed up she told the people that each child would receive food and cloths. It did not take long for the school to be full. Borrowing money and knowhow she started the first woollen mill. She used the river Moy that runs through the town to power the looms. It only stopped using water power in the 60's. It is still producing world famous Foxford tweeds, rugs and blankets.
This area was also known for the start the land revolt. This was a peaceful revolt that changes Irish history for the better. It let the people own the land they worked. It started as a result of many evictions during the famine.
We learned lot of history today.
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