13 Old Ruins to Explore in County Mayo

Achill-henge is a concrete structure on Achill Island off the northwest coast of County Mayo, Ireland. It consists of a circle of 30 concrete columns topped by a ring of stone. No care was taken to replicate or reference genuine stone circles in the region or the country. The term Achill-henge can be interpreted as a reference to the cultural inaccuracy of the structure in local context as typically henges are simply referred to as stone circles in Ireland.

Ballintubber Abbey is an important sacred Irish historical site which celebrated its 800th year anniversary. It is the only church in Ireland still in daily use that was founded by an Irish king. The abbey has several modern outdoor attractions, including a very modern abstract Way of the Cross, an underground permanent Crib, and a Rosary Way. It was one of the iconic attraction in this area and also attracts many tourists.

The 12th century Abbey at Cong was built on the site of an earlier 7th century monastery founded by either Domnall, the nephew of an Irish King or St Feichin. At one time, the abbey had 3,000 inhabitants, who were excellent scholars and skilled craftsmen. It is also the location where Rory O’Connor, Ireland’s last High King, died.

Carrickkildavnet Castle is a tower house and National Monument located in Achill Island, Ireland. It is located in the southeast corner of Achill Island, across from the Corraun Peninsula. This is an important strategic site, protecting the mouth of Achill Sound and the passage that connects Clew Bay with Blacksod Bay.

Hennigan's Heritage Centre is situated in unspoilt countryside overlooking Creagaballa Lake 6.5km from the workhouse at Swinford where thousands of people from the region died during the 19th century due to starvation, and 20km from The Museum of Country Life, Turlough.

Knock Shrine, in County Mayo, is an international place of prayer and pilgrimage dating back to August 1879, when fifteen people from the village witnessed an apparition. It is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and national shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where locals claimed to have seen an apparition in 1879 of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist, angels, and Jesus Christ.

Moore Hall House was built by George Moore in 1792 and completed in 1796. It is situated to the south of the village Carnacon in the barony of Carra, County Mayo in a karst limestone landscape. The house was burned down in 1923 by anti-Treaty irregular forces during the Irish Civil War as Maurice Moore was viewed as pro-Treaty.

Moyne Abbey, close to Crosspatrick, lies on the west side of Killala Bay, near Ballina. It is one of most impressive ecclesiastical ruins in Mayo and a National Monument. The friary was built in the late Irish Gothic style and has extensive ruins, consisting of a church and domestic buildings situated around a central cloister. Its west doorway is a seventeenth century insertion, and its east window displays fine switchline tracery.

Rockfleet Castle, also known as Carrickahowley Castle, stands at the mouth of a small inlet on the northern shores of Clew Bay in County Mayo. The Castle is renowned for its links with Grace O`Malley, a pirate sea Queen who inhabited the castle in the latter part of the 16th Century. It has four floors and is over eighteen metres in height looking out towards the drumlins of Clew Bay. Though entry to the castle was once available to the public, it is now strictly prohibited for safety reasons.

Shrule Castle was built in the early part of the 13th century by the Norman de Burgh family. It was granted to John de Burgh in c.1308 by his father Richard be Burgh, the 2nd Earl of Ulster. The castle was attacked in 1570 by english forces led by Sir Edward Fitton, the first Lord President of Connaught, 1569-1572. In 1642, during the Confederate Wars, a number of English settlers surrendered to Irish authorities.

The Monks Fishing house is located at the back of the Cong Abbey. It was built on the Cong river so the monks could fish from the river all year around. This ingenious little building has a trap door for a net and a small arch that allows the river to flow underneath it. There was also a rope line connected to the kitchen in the monastery that alerted the monks of a fresh catch.

This is a well known Irish tourist attraction, owned by the Hughes family who own a number of businesses in the west of Ireland. Until January 2017, it was the ancestral seat of the Browne family, whose head was the Marquess of Sligo. The title and the house were separated in 2014, following the death of Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo, who left the estate to his five daughters.