Boyle Abbey is the obvious starting point, a Cistercian church founded in 1161 whose crossing tower still stands and whose corbels carry the monks, beasts and Sheela-na-Gig of the School of the West. King House, the Georgian mansion the town rescued from demolition in the 1980s, is a short walk away in the same compact centre, which makes Boyle the one stop here you can do entirely on foot.
The rest wants a car. Rathcroghan at Tulsk spreads over 6.5 km² of working farmland and more than 240 monuments, and without the guided tour from the visitor centre it reads as green fields. Clonalis House at Castlerea, held by the O’Conor family for over 1,500 years, opens for guided tours in summer only, as does Castlecoote House further south. Strokestown Park holds the National Famine Museum in its old stable yards, and the 165 km National Famine Way begins at the gates.
South of Roscommon town a tight group sits along the River Suck: Athleague’s ten-arch causeway bridge and O’Kelly tower house, the Castlestrange stone in a driveway a couple of fields away, and the cross-slabs at Fuerty naming an abbot of Clonmacnoise. Those are free, roadside and open in any weather, which is what you fall back on when the house tours stop.
Founded in 1161 and among the most complete Cistercian ruins in Connacht, with a standing crossing tower and the carved corbels of the School of the West.
The largest unexcavated royal complex in Europe, seat of Queen Medb in the Táin, and best read on the guided tour from the visitor centre.
Ancestral seat of the O'Conor Don, holding O'Carolan's harp and the coronation stone, with guided tours running in summer only.
A restored Georgian mansion in the middle of Boyle, running through 300 years of local history, with tea rooms and a Saturday market in the courtyard.
A ten-arch causeway bridge over the Suck, a late-15th-century O'Kelly tower house on the bank, and the La Tène Castlestrange stone a couple of fields off.
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Boyle, roscommon
Founded in 1161 and consecrated in 1218, Boyle Abbey is one of the most complete Cistercian ruins in Connacht. Its squat crossing tower and the carved corbels of the 'School of the West' – monks, beasts, a Sheela-na-Gig – are what set it apart from the usual monastic austerity.
Tulsk, roscommon
Rathcroghan is the largest unexcavated royal complex in Europe: over 240 monuments across 6.5 km² of Roscommon farmland, the seat of Queen Medb in the Táin, and the reputed birthplace of Samhain. The guided tour is the way to read a landscape that otherwise looks like green fields.
Castlerea, roscommon
Clonalis is the ancestral home of the O'Conor Don, whose family has held this Roscommon estate for over 1,500 years and descends from the last High Kings of Ireland. The late-Victorian house holds royal heirlooms – Turlough O'Carolan's harp, the O'Conor coronation stone, and the last recorded Brehon Law verdict – and opens for guided tours in summer only.
Boyle, roscommon
Step into County Roscommon's past at King House, a restored Georgian mansion in Boyle rescued from demolition in the 1980s. It runs through 300 years of local history, from the landowning King family to the Connaught Rangers who barracked here, with a courtyard of tea rooms, a craft shop and a Saturday market.
Roscommon, roscommon
Athleague's causeway bridge steps across the River Suck on ten arches, its first arch swallowed by an old mill race. On the bank stand the ruins of a late-15th-century O'Kelly tower house, and a couple of fields away sits the Castlestrange stone, a granite boulder carved with swirling Iron Age La Tène spirals. The former Church of Ireland now serves as the Suck Valley visitor centre and walking trailhead.
Boyle, roscommon
Set on the Boyle River at the edge of the Curlew Mountains, this small Roscommon town packs a 12th-century Cistercian abbey, the restored Georgian King House and the woodlands of Lough Key Forest Park into a compact, walkable centre. It is also Moone Boy country, Chris O'Dowd's home town and the setting for his TV series.
Frenchpark, roscommon
Frenchpark, in north Roscommon, was the childhood home of Douglas Hyde, Ireland's first president. A free interpretive centre tells his story, and the scattered remains of the old French estate – including a rare smokehouse – reward an hour off the N5.
roscommon
At Fuerty, a few kilometres from Roscommon town, two granite cross-slabs on the church tower carry inscriptions more than a thousand years old, one naming Ardeachan, an abbot of Clonmacnoise. It is a small, free, roadside site: a roofless later church, a graveyard, and the slabs. Tradition says St Ciarán, who founded Clonmacnoise, was baptised here.
Roscommon, roscommon
In 1847 the landlord of Strokestown forced 1,490 of his tenants off the estate and onto the road to Dublin, to be shipped to Canada. The National Famine Way retraces that 165 km walk, waymarked and marked by more than thirty pairs of bronze children's shoes, with a free app that tells the story as you go.
Strokestown, roscommon
Strokestown's main street is one of the widest in Ireland, a deliberately grand avenue laid out to run straight to the gates of Strokestown Park House. The Palladian estate is the reason to come, with guided house tours, six acres of Victorian walled garden and Ireland's National Famine Museum in the old stable yards. The town itself is a short, pleasant stop.
Ballaghaderreen, roscommon
Castlecoote, roscommon
Athleague, roscommon
Cloonahee, roscommon
Tullamore, meath
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