Cong

Cong sits on an isthmus between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask and lies partly in Mayo and partly in Galway. The ruins of the medieval Cong Abbey recall that Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (Rory O’Connor), the last High King of Ireland, spent his final years here; the famous Cross of Cong comes from the abbey and is now in the National Museum in Dublin. Nearby Ashford Castle was extended in the 19th century under the Guinness family into a Victorian castle and is now a hotel.

The village became famous through John Ford’s film “The Quiet Man” (1952) with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, which was partly filmed in the grounds of Ashford Castle. You can also see the Cong Canal, the “Dry Canal”, built between 1848 and 1854: it was never completed and carries varying amounts of water depending on the season, at times almost none. Allow half a day for the abbey, walks and the village. If you arrive by motorhome, come early in the day to find a parking space.