Overview
Turlough O’Carolan – the blind harper whose tunes are still played in trad sessions the length of the country – was buried here in 1738, under the surviving gable of Kilronan church just outside the village. That grave is the reason to turn off the R284 at Ballyfarnon, a village of 187 people on the Roscommon side of the Sligo border, sitting at about 59 m among a cluster of six loughs in the foothills of the Arigna Mountains.
Don’t come expecting much of a village. There are two pubs (one open full-time, the other only part of the week), a grocery, a garage with a shop, a primary school and the GAA grounds, and that is about the size of it. The interest is in the churchyard, the castle hotel on the edge of the village, and the walking country around.
Kilronan church and O’Carolan’s grave
First founded in the 8th century by St Ronan and his daughter St Lasair, the church you see now is a much later shell. The medieval building went up in 1339, burned down the following year, and was rebuilt again a few years after that; the weathered gable is what remains.
Beneath it lies the McDermott Roe vault, where O’Carolan was interred in 1738. The site was long tied to the O’Duigenan family, hereditary erenachs (lay abbots) of Kilronan, who ran a school of history here and kept bards and learned poets for the MacDermott princes of Moylurg. The inscriptions on the stones trace that line of scholars and musicians. It is freely open, no ticket and no gate; walk in and read them.
Down in the village centre there is a memorial to Josie McDermott, the flute and whistle player from these parts, and a small memorial garden on the bank of the River Feorish that remembers both the old fair-day crowds and the Arigna coal miners.
Walking the Miner’s Way
Ballyfarnon is a waypoint on the Miner’s Way and Historical Trail, a long waymarked route (yellow arrows on a black background) that loops through the old Arigna coalfield and the country around Lough Key, Lough Arrow and Boyle. It is a multi-day walk over quiet tarmac, field paths and open moorland, and the village pubs and B&Bs make a natural rest stop for anyone doing it in stages.
One warning if you wander off the marked route: the hillsides are pocked with old mine entrances. They are unstable and worth giving a wide berth.
The loughs
Six loughs sit within reach of the village – Skean, Meelagh, Arrow, Allen, Bo and na-Sool – good for a slow walk, a bit of birdwatching or an evening’s angling. There are no marked lakeside trails or visitor centre; you find the water down quiet country roads and field gates. St Lasair’s holy well, a spring long visited for its reputed cures, is a short walk out of the centre.
Practical information
- Getting there – Ballyfarnon is on the R284. From the N4, turn at the Keadue signpost and follow the road for about 10 km. You will want a car; rural bus services here are thin.
- Parking – Free parking is available at Kilronan Castle Hotel and Spa.
- Amenities – Two pubs (one full-time), a grocery, a garage with convenience store, a church, a primary school and GAA grounds.
- Staying and eating – Kilronan Castle Hotel and Spa, a castellated house built around 1820 by Thomas Tenison, has rooms and the Douglas Hyde Restaurant; several family-run B&Bs are scattered through the surrounding townlands, and the pubs do plain food and the odd music session.
Nearby
- Arigna Mining Experience (about 10 km) – A guided tour underground through Ireland’s last working coal mine, led by former miners. If you do one thing in the area, make it this.
- Lough Allen (about 15 km) – Fishing, boating and lakeside roads off the R284.
- Sligo town (about 30 km) – North across the border, for its Yeats connections and coast.