Carna, Cashel, Screebe & Rosmuc

Returning from the islands district and the Carraroe peninsula, the road heads almost straight for Scríb (Screebe) and Rosmuc where Teach an Phiarsaigh, the summer home of Pádraig Mac Piarais, Ireland’s 1916 patriot and poet, is located. Now a museum, the house has been restored as it was in Pearse’s day and is open to visitors during the tourist season. The road continues west again along the coast to Carna (Carna) and Cill Chiaráin (Kilkerrin), a land of Great Celtic and early Christian resonance. This area is especially renowned for its traditional sean nós singers – keep an ear open for the impromptu sessions!. Small islands cluster in the bay and the most notable of these is perhaps Oileán Mhic Dara (St. MacDara’s Island) with its Saint Mac Dara’s church, where on the 16th of July each year, the Saint’s day, boats will bring you to the island, a bare granite outcrop in the ocean on which stands an Early Christian stone oratory dedicated to the Saint’s name. From Carna and Kilkerrin the road through this lovely West Coast Gaeltacht winds to An tSraith Salach (Recess) before turning back again towards An Teach Dóite (Maam), crossroads of the Connemara Gaeltacht.

Ionad Cultúrtha an Phiarsaigh / Teach an Phiarsaigh (Patrick Pearse’s Cottage)

Ionad Cultúrtha an Phiarsaigh is a new visitor centre in Ros Muc in the heart of the Connemara Gaeltacht that tells the story of Patrick Pearse, and brings visitors on a journey of discovery through the language, culture and landscape of this stunning part of south Connemara. Adjacent to the small restored cottage used by Patrick Pearse (1879 – 1916) leader of the 1916 Rising, as a summer residence. The interior, although burned during the War of Independence, has been reconstructed and contains an exhibition and a number of momentoes of Pearse. Access for people with disabilities is restricted.

Contact: An Gort Mhór, Ros Muc, Galway, Ireland H91 DW9A | Tel: 091 574292 | http://www.icpconamara.ie/