The Community Hall in Ballyhaunis was brimming recently with talent to celebrate International Women’s Day. On the stage, Ukrainian dance troupe, Romanian classical guitarist playing lead, a Filipino adding rhythm and vocals alongside a German soprano. A Lithuanian singer Aretha Franklin’s “You Make Me Feel Like a Woman”. The acts are introduced by the hostess, […]
Tag: Ballyhaunis
One of the more striking data sets in the recent national census concerned Ballyhaunis. The town was shown to have one of the fastest growing populations in the Western region according to the 2022 census which shows the town’s population rose 14.3 percent –adding 438 people, to 3,495 – between 2016 and 2022. By contrast […]
Anyone browsing popular property website Daft.ie during Christmas might be surprised to see a Ballyhaunis house listed at a monthly rent of EUR1,450, a figure more commonly seen in Galway or even Dublin. Granted the property is a lovingly restored old period home in Abbeyquarter – with a B level BER rating suggesting comfort and […]
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Stonemason keeps alive a rural tradition
Dominic Keogh is a master stone mason keen to preserve the craft of dry-stone walling, once the knowledge of every farmer in Mayo. On the way to meet him recently in Spell’s Bar in Ballaghadreen I pass mansion sized houses with limestone cladding facades and sandstone pillars, suggesting stonework as a local marker of aspiration […]
Two busy pubs run by second generation young publicans in the Mayo Roscommon border country suggest the demise of the rural hostelry may be exaggerated as locals over compensate for time under lock down. The peaty aroma of a turf fire greets the visitor to Duffy’s bar in Kilmovee on a Sunday afternoon recently. […]
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Three churches, three traditions
A few minutes’ walk from the imposing limestone grandeur of St Patrick’s Church, the Assembly of God Mission in Ballyhaunis is conspicuous by its location, a commercial building shared with a furniture store and a gym. Few people knowing they’re passing a church when they walk down the side lane known as Barrack St. In […]