Sunday 21 May, 2017
Today the weather turned very cold. It was overcast and quite miserable.
The Boyle family gathered for a Sunday roast at lunchtime and the lively banter made up for the cold and cloudy weather outside. Dr. John Boyle is a dab hand with the baking as is his clever son Thomas who bakes delicious cookies.
Later in the day we went for a family drive to Gort, a township quite close to here, just 15 minutes and the area that Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baron was given for the role he played to prevent the murder of William of Orange during the Jacobite conspiracy of 1696
We decided to take a look at the Castle at Lough Coutra and because of my distant relationship to the Viscount Gort, the Gatekeeper allowed us onto the property all be it on foot through the side gate. It is an extremely long drive way so we walked about half a kilometre before returning to our car parked outside. I did take some lovely photos of the Castle grounds which are kept in pristine condition.
Next weekend the Castle hosts a triathlon so there will be plenty of photos taken for anyone interested in seeing more of the Castle and grounds.
On our way back to Cusheen, we visited the very dilapidated but enormous St. Mary’s Mental institution at Ennis. The Mental hospital and Church on a large block of land are on the market. Rumour has it that a large consortium is interested in purchasing these buildings and will renovate it and establish an upmarket Resort. Time will tell.
Families of Ireland 