A tent on the bog
On the N59 between Letterfrack and Leenane, a low, sharply angled church stands alone on a high bog plateau with nothing around it but Connemara. This is Our Lady of the Wayside at Creeragh, dedicated in 1968 and designed by the Clifden architect Leo Mansfield (1934–1998). In his 1976 book Churches and Abbeys of Ireland, Brian de Breffny called it “like a pegged-down tent on the windswept Connemara plain” – which is precisely what it looks like from the road, and the best reason to slow down for it.
The dedication, to Our Lady of the Wayside, the patron of travellers, suits a building most people first meet through a car window.
Inside
The interior is plain and well detailed under a soaring pine-clad roof. The thing to look for is the stained-glass window by the Dublin artist Phyllis Burke (b.1930), showing Our Lady in the traditional red shawl of Connemara; the tabernacle and crucifix are the work of Patrick McElroy (1923–2008). This is a working parish church rather than a visitor attraction, so keep it quiet if a service or someone at prayer is in progress.
Practical information
A small free car park sits beside the church off the N59. There are no staff, no toilets and no refreshments on site – Letterfrack and Leenane, a few miles either way, have cafés and amenities. The plateau is exposed, so expect it a few degrees colder and windier than the coast, whatever the forecast says down at sea level.
The same car park is the usual starting point for climbing Garraun (598m). The most straightforward route goes up the mountain’s sharp east spur from Lough Fee – a 5 km round trip of about two and a half hours. If you’ve driven this far for the church, the mountain behind it is the obvious next move.