One of the stops on our walk this Saturday, 17th of August will be the deserted village. A group of houses which through the Griffiths Valuation map (circa 1858), can be attributed to the families of: Maguire, Donnelly and Flynn. Each family held an arable plot of around a quarter of an acre and had access to “The Commons” for grazing.
Interestingly, there is a strange little structure built deep into a stone wall. We’ve seen it described as a “well built dog kennel”… but its widely recognised to be a “sweat house”. There are recordings of similar structures in other areas and its believed they have their origins in the Bronze Age. Their use may have had a ritual or religious significance, one suggestion is that they were used by the menfolk to remove all smells before they went out hunting!
Dog kennel or sweat house??? Why not join us and make up your own mind…
We leave by bus from The Gap O’the North Pub, Jonesborough at 11.30 sharp for our starting point. The walk is a 15 km track starting in Ravensdale, taking the forest trails across Moneycrockroe, descending into the valley on the other side where we pick up the road for 2/3 km before reaching Glenmore, Barnavave and the deserted village. From there we will take the Mass Trails into Grange, for a BBQ and evening of “craic agus ceol” in John Long’s Pub. We will return by bus at 8 pm to The Gap O’ the North, where undoubtedly the craic will continue until the wee hours!
Expect to be walking for 4/4.5 hours, and as usual all walkers must have walking boots, a water/wind proof jacket and a packed lunch.
Cost is £25 or 30 Euros which includes bus to and from Gap O’ the North, Jonesborough, BBQ and music in the fabulous John Long’s pub in Grange! There are a few places left, so if you are interested you would need to get your name and money to us asap! Send us a message via our Facebook page or email gaponorth@gmail.com
Please note there will be no Sunday walk on the 18th …we’ll be too tired after our long walk and late night’s craic… but we’ll be back to a Sunday walk as normal on Sunday, 1st of September when we’ll be walking in the Ring of Gullion.