Overview
Straide is where Michael Davitt was born, and that is reason enough to come. The founder of the Irish Land League grew up in this small Mayo village (Irish: an tSráid, ‘the street’), and he asked to be buried here rather than in Dublin. His grave and the museum that tells his story sit beside the ruins of a medieval friary, all within a few minutes’ walk of each other. If you have an hour, give most of it to the museum and the rest to the friary next door.
Michael Davitt
Davitt was born in Straide on 25 March 1846, at the height of the Famine. His family was evicted when he was a child; he lost his right arm in a Lancashire cotton-mill accident at eleven; and he served years in prison for treason felony. In 1879 he co-founded the Irish Land League, which set out to break the power of the landlords and did more than almost any movement to change who owned the land in Ireland. He is buried in the grounds of Straide Abbey, a few steps from the museum door.
What to see
Michael Davitt Museum
The museum is housed in a restored pre-Penal church and opened in 2000. It holds original documents, photographs, personal artefacts and detailed accounts of the 1879 founding meeting, and it does a genuine job of showing how one local man’s experience of eviction and hard labour fed into national policy. Adults €8, children €3, family €20. Hours run longer in summer (9.30am to 5.30pm, March to September) and shorter in winter (9.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Saturday, October to February), with the last guided tour at 4pm.
Straide Abbey (friary)
The ruined friary next to the museum was founded around 1240 by Jordan de Exeter, first as a Franciscan house and later Dominican. The roof is long gone, but the surviving walls carry carved reliefs and outline the old cloister clearly. It’s free and open, and worth ten quiet minutes for the medieval stonework alone. The ground is uneven, with a few short steps, so it isn’t fully wheelchair-friendly.
The Three-Arch Bridge
Just downstream, an early nineteenth-century hump-backed bridge of fieldstone crosses the River Moy. Bypassed by roadworks in the 1980s, it survives well; look for the Ordnance Survey benchmark cut into the stonework, a small relic of early mapping.
Walks and the wider townland
The Moy’s flat floodplain makes for easy, level walking, best in spring when wildflowers line the banks. A short route from the Fair Green leads out toward the Knockshanvalley wedge tomb and a scatter of ringforts; it’s unpaved and turns muddy after rain, so wear sturdy footwear. The lanes around the village are quiet enough for gentle road cycling.
Getting there and parking
Straide is on the N58 between Castlebar and Foxford (Eircode F26 FX37). There’s free parking at the museum, with room for cars and coaches, and more spaces by the Three-Arch Bridge. The nearest train station is Foxford, about 8km away on the Dublin–Westport line, and Castlebar is about 12km east. Direct public transport into Straide is limited, so most visitors come by car or take a taxi from Foxford or Castlebar.
Accessibility and facilities
- Museum: level entrance and accessible toilet, with exhibits at comfortable viewing heights.
- Abbey ruins: uneven surfaces and a few steps; manageable for steady walkers but not wheelchairs.
- Food and drink: a small café opposite the museum and a pub a short walk away serve simple meals and coffee.
Nearby attractions
- Ballycroy (Wild Nephin) National Park – about 30km west, with bogland trails and the chance of red deer and golden eagles.
- Ballina – 25km north, the ‘Salmon Capital of Ireland’, on the River Moy fishery.
- Castlebar – 12km east, home to the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life.
The museum, grave, friary and bridge all sit within a ten-minute walk, so you can do the whole loop in an afternoon on foot. And if you arrive after the museum has shut, the abbey and Davitt’s grave are still open and free.