Cycling Carlow’s Heartland
The backroads are my routes for exploring the nooks and crannies of the countryside and cycling these bóithríns (cow paths) lets me slip out of this modern world for a few hours of exploring! With my ordnance survey maps loaded on my phone I’m constantly seeing little red dots and red writing indicating an ancient landmark, forgotten places that are impossible to see from the comfort of a car but which I can easily spot from my bike and explore. The ordnance survey maps carry the poetic placenames of the county. Long before maps and the written word, places had names which were memorised and were important reference points committed to memory. My good friend Uinsíonn Mac Graith (former Rathvilly goalkeeper 1980s) explained this to me on a cliffside walk along the north Mayo coast a couple of years ago. Every inlet, cave, reef, rock, hill, headland, stream had it’s own special name which were used to pinpoint a location, to tell a tale about the area and give meaning to the landscape. In his publication, ‘Logainmneacha agus Oidhreacht Dhún Chaocháin (The Placenames and Heritage of Dún Chaocháin)‘ he collected and listed an incredible 1,500 placenames of this tiny area and he mapped them all! It’s a beautiful and important publication. Many of these placenames were not written down beforehand, but were carried by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Carlow is no different; it would be nice to have our Logainmneacha recorded. For now the Ordnance Survey Maps are a good starting point, as is my father’s copy of ‘Placenames of County Carlow’ by Edward O Toole, a little publication that I treasure.
My route today was to take my down to Killoughternane and Rathnageeragh:
Sticking to the back roads provides me with safe quiet cycle paths; virtually traffic free. First stop off today was at Clonmelsh graveyard, where Walt Disneys ancestors are buried!
Just a few hundred metres beyond the graveyard is another very important site associated with St Willibrord, patron saint of Luxembourg. St Willibrord was born near York in England. He was trained and ordained at a religious site located in the townland of Garryhundon, Co Carlow commonly referred to as Killogan, Rath Melsigi (Rathmelsh) or Clonmelsh Graveyard.
I took the back road to Bagenalstown or Muinebheag. William Bagenal of Dunleckny House had planned to build a new town based on Versaille! As pretty and all as Bagenalstown may be, it ain’t no Versaille!
(From http://www.logainm.ie website)
Passing out of Bagenalstown, the skew bridge over the railway is bordered with the very unique Carlow granite fencing; found no where else in the country! The upright pillars have a V cut into the top and into which the lintel is set in place. Richie Kavanagh wrote a song about it!
Onwards through Donore, Corries Cross, Ballinree Cross and finally arriving after a pleasant traffic free cycle at Killoughternane (Cill Fhoirtchearnáin) – Church of St Fortchen, of which I’ve blogged recently. Also known as the ‘White Church’. It’s obvious why from this drone photo:
My final destination for the day was another visit to Rathnageeragh (Ráth na gCaorach – The Fort/ Rath of the Sheep) to see the progress on the restoration of the old National School. What a treat. But first a big climb up the approach to Carlow’s highest village, Drumphea, before turning right and along the stone walled bordered bóithrín to the Edmond Spruhan restored school. The Schools Collection on the Dúchas website (www.dúchas.ie) contains literally thousands of handwritten stories collected in National Schools, all across the country. They collected stories from Rathnageeragh NS, here is one surprising story about the popularity of bowling and cricket in Drumphea!
I was at the southernmost end of today’s cycle route at Killoughternane and was heading home into the cold north wind. I always like to take a different route home and today was no different. I headed towards Cúl na Sneachta and then in the direction of Garryhill before turning right into the townland of Sheean (An Sían – The Fairy Mound). It was there I came upon a memorial to Volunteers Myles Carroll and Seamus O Toole. The Myshall and Drumpha Parish website is a great source of local history and there is great detail, including a ballad, commemorating the two men here
This is a road I was never on before and I soon passed the Carlow dog training club, I didn’t know such a place existed; there were half dozen dogs being put through their paces! I headed back by the shortest route possible, through Straduff, Clonee, Tailor’s Cross, Kilnock, Ballynunnery, Kellistown, Moyle, Ballycrogue and back into Carlow Town. A great day’s cycling with lots of glimpses into our historic past.
John Creedon of RTE has written some great books in recent years, one of which celebrates the placenames of Ireland ‘That Place We Call Home’, well worth a read as is his compendium ‘An Irish Folklore Treasury from the Schools Collection which is part of the National Folklore Collection, which I sometimes reference.
65kms done today across the beautiful countryside of County Carlow!
