Friday 23rd

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 Friday 23^rd

A rainy morning so we opted for a bad weather pursuit and drove to Kylemore Castle, where a break in the rain allowed us to walk around the walled Victorian garden which extended to 6 acres. Well kept and very impressive. Then onto the house which had an interesting history, built by Michael and Margaret Henry in the late 19^th century out of the family wealth generated by trading with USA from their Manchester company. When they ran out of cash it was sold to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester – she was an heiress family money from a USA oil company. Then left empty when the Duke had gambled all the dosh, and fell into disrepair.  Acquired in 1920 by an community of Benedictine Nuns who arrived by a somewhat circuitous route from Ypres where they had to leave their Abbey in the early years of WWI. They ran a fee-paying school and were able to restore the castle to its Victorian/Edwardian splendour. The school was shut in the early 2000’s due to lack of pupils. We enjoyed looking around the ground floor, the nuns now have their purpose built nunnery on site and Michael Henry built a Gothic Style church in memory of Margaret who died at the age of 49. After a little history talk from a French lady (!) spending time researching Irish history and improving her English.  On leaving Kylemore Castle it was still raining, and we decided to head for Lissoy next to Glasson approximately halfway eastwards towards Castle Bellingham where we were due to be on Saturday.  We randomly chose a pub from Irish Stops in the Britstops directory and the Three Jolly Pigeons   an gem of an Irish traditional pub. No food being served so it was DIY in the van before a libation or three in the bar. This was a small pub in the ownership of the McCormack for almost a century which like any village pubs had also been a general store back in the day. The Guiness was good and the criach covered a range of topics from the niceties of hurling v. Gaelic football v. rugby union and how Ireland were worried about the possible effect of Thexton’s suspension before the RFU world cup in France this year.  However Seamus the publican knowledge of Oliver Goldsmith, the connection of the pub with his play “She stops to conquer” and the village’s celebration of Goldsmith with an annual festival was the main topic of the evening.