HISTORY · HISTORICAL MARKER
Lake Walk
History
Kylemore Abbey, formerly Kylemore Castle, takes its name from the Kylemore Valley. The original estate stretched over 12 townlands, while today it spans 5: Lemnaheltia, Pollacappul, Addergoole, Currywongaun, and Mweelin. A townland, baile fearainn, is an old geographical land division still in use, and these names remain a valuable part of Irish heritage because they refer to geographical features, historical events, or local legends. Gaelic townland names were standardised and anglicised in the 19th century by the British Ordnance Survey. The townland of Kylemore, from Coill Mór meaning Big Wood, was never part of the estate, though Mitchell Henry adopted the name and reforested the valley. Halfway up Duchruagh Hill, whose name means Black Stack, stands the Sacred Heart statue, which commemorates the safe delivery of the Benedictine Community from Belgium to Kylemore after WWI. In 1923, ten local men carried it up in a custom-made handbarrow, and the Community blessed it at its resting place overlooking the valley. East of Kylemore Abbey behind the Gothic Church lies Lemnaheltia, named after the cliffs of Léim na Héilte, the Hind's Leap. Local lore tells of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his hound Bran chasing a mythical deer on Duchruagh Hill until the deer tumbled off the cliffs and Bran followed it into the lake. Kingfishers, though rare in Connemara, do visit the Dawros river flowing through the estate, and in the 19th century they were hunted for their feathers, with many ending up taxidermized in stately houses.
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