Overview
Murrisk is a starting point for the climb up Croagh Patrick, and on the last Sunday of July – Reek Sunday – pilgrims set off from the village, some of them barefoot in memory of Saint Patrick’s 40-day fast on the summit. The village sits on the southern shore of Clew Bay, about 8 km west of Westport in County Mayo. If you have only an hour and no intention of climbing the Reek, spend it at the National Famine Memorial near the mountain trailhead – it is the one thing here that stops people in their tracks.
Name and early history
The name Murrisk (Irish: Muraisc) has two competing origins. Most scholars favour Muir Riasc, ‘marsh by the sea’, which fits the village’s low-lying coastal ground; an older, more mythic reading points to Muir Iasc, ‘sea monster’. Murrisk was once the centre of an old barony stretching from Westport to Clare Island. By the 19th century the Garvey family held the local estate, and a silver chalice made for the monastery in 1635 carries the names of Theobald, Lord Viscount Mayo, and his wife Maeve – a direct link to the pirate queen Grace O’Malley (Granuaile), whose ancestors granted the land to the friars.
Murrisk Abbey and the pilgrimage route
Murrisk Abbey was founded in the 1450s – sources split between 1456 and 1457 – by the O’Malley family, and it served as a staging post for pilgrims heading up the mountain. The Augustinian friars built an L-shaped complex of church, sacristy, chapter room and domestic quarters. The ruins still carry good stonework: a five-light east window with cusped ogee arches, remnants of a battlement on the south wall, and two carved stone heads, one bearded and one in a hat, set into the walls. The friars were expelled during the Reformation, but the adjoining cemetery is still in use.
Local tradition names a narrow lane near the abbey Boher na miasa, ‘the road of the dishes’, where the monks are said to have washed their utensils in a nearby stream. The ruins have uneven stone and steps, so wheelchair access to the abbey itself is limited.
National Famine Memorial
Near the Croagh Patrick trailhead stands the National Famine Memorial, unveiled in July 1997 by President Mary Robinson. The sculptor John Behan cast it as a ‘coffin ship’ – the overcrowded, disease-ridden vessels that carried starving emigrants to North America in the 1840s. Skeletal figures cling to the rigging. It is a hard thing to look at, and better for it, set as it is against Clew Bay.
Fishing heritage
Long before the pilgrimage crowds, Murrisk was a working fishing community. The Augustinian monks are credited with teaching local people to fish the bay from small currachs. By the late 19th century the Congested Districts Board recorded Murrisk fishermen working small trawlers along the coast, and in 1894 they built a small pier for safe anchorage. A 2005 Fishermen’s Memorial near the old pier honours the generations who worked the waters of Clew Bay.
Walking from the village
For a managed low-level route, see the council’s Belclare to Murrisk Greenway map.
Croagh Patrick is a separate mountain outing. Use recognised access, check conditions and leave dogs at home. Guide dogs are an exception under the mountain’s access guidance.
Bertra strand, a sandy spit a short drive west, runs out towards Bartra Island. Walks on the spit are tide-dependent, because rising water can cut off the return, so check the tide tables before you set out. Along the shore, Bartraw Strand is a sand-and-shingle beach linking west to Thornhill Strand and north to White Strand, and a good spot for migratory waders. Spring and autumn bring curlews, oystercatchers and redshanks, best watched early. Check tide times before walking any shoreline here.
Practical information
- Getting there: Murrisk is on the R335 (Louisburgh Road). The nearest train station is Westport, about 11 km away.
- Entry: The abbey and the memorial are free to see.
- Visitor centre: The former Croagh Patrick Visitor Centre by the car park has changed hands, so don’t count on it being open as an interpretive centre. Check locally before you rely on it for information or facilities.
Nearby attractions
- Bartra Island – An uninhabited island just off the coast, with rugged paths and seabird colonies.
- Aughagower – A historic village further along the old pilgrim route, with a medieval church and ancient stone circles.
If you do one thing on a passing visit, make it the Famine Memorial.