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 Image of a passport   Athenry welcomes you to explore its medieval past and bright future.
Click for MAP of Our Area 
Click for map of Athenry Town Trail

Athenry is the best example of a medieval walled town in Ireland.

Athenry of the fields - for all seasons.  
    The landscape is verdant and flat. Laying on a bed of limestone it is wrinkled only by the winding vestige of the last ice age - the Esker Riada. 
     Lime-fed grass puts strong bone into hunting horses and steeple chasers. A hunting foray with the local foxhounds 'The Blazers' over unyielding and over winding stone walls will test the fortitude of the most intrepid rider. The more submissive peatlands to the East and North, rich in heather and birch, is the winter haven of the curlew, woodcock and snipe. 
    The town of Athenry is an open-air museum. Glimpse of a glorious yet troubled past - may be caught through the slit windows of the Norman Castle or re-echoes of sacred chant imagined in the nave and cloister of the roofless Dominican Priory. The fourteenth century town walls enclose all in a ribbon of stone. 
     For the natives the work-a-day is not at all unpleasent. Lively bars, a feverish spate of building and restoration and the demands of a large student population contribute to keeping the tempo upbeat. 
     Athenry's annual festival centred around 'Lady Day' (August 15th) is an unforgettable mixture of piety and pleasure. Native sons and daughters return from abroad for the event. Mass is offered at the Holy Well, prayers are said, an ancient pilgrimage is completed. There fellows an effortless transition to medieval pageantry, jousting, street theatre and revelry. 
    Many have come to watch and have remained to live, such is the welcoming ambience of the place. This is a place for all seasons where life may be lived out at a leisurely pace and where ambitions, however off beat, may be realised.                                                                                    M.T. Kelly. 

                                                          Click here for A Brief HISTORY of Athenry

                                    Take a tour of Fascinating sites such as : 
 
Athenry Castle
    Other Attractions of Athenry and the surrounding area: 
The Padraic Fallon Sculpture - A Winged Horse which stands in the Park in Memory of Padriac Fallon the poet who was born in Athenry, which was unveiled by Nobel Prize winner SÉAMUS HEANEY. . 
    • Derrydonnell FOREST - Enjoy a walk through the beautiful Forest.
    • Monivea Village - Unique, with its broad green area running through the village.
      • Forest Walks
      • Mausoleum
      • Monivea Castle
    • AbbeyKnockmoy - Beautiful Abbey in Ruins.
    • Esker Monastery
      • Retreat House & Youth Village
      • 350 year old religious site, founded when the Monks fled the Dominican Abbey ahead of the Cromwellian forces.
      • 18 hole Pitch & Putt course.
    • Lackagh Museum & Heritage Centre Experience life in a real thatched cottage, with all household items, so familiar in years gone by or stroll in our heritage park which houses a collection of farm implements from early this century and before, or ramble through the picnic are at your leisure. Also The Battle of Knockdoe Interpretative Centre, find out about the famous battle fought on the 19th August 1504. Lackagh Turloughmore (091) 797444.
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