Overview
The Neale (Irish An Éill, “the strip of land”) sits on a limestone plateau between Cong and Ballinrobe in south Mayo. It’s a small village, but it carries an outsized amount of history for its size. The land between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask has been worked since prehistory, with cairns, ringforts and crannogs in the surrounding fields and the ruins of Norman castles once held by McDonnell mercenaries. Two things bring people here: a scatter of eccentric estate follies, and the story of the land agent whose name became a word.
The heritage walk
The Mayo County Council heritage walk map sets out the village loop and its stops, including the millennium park, the Temple and the stepped Pyramid. Start in the village and follow the marked heritage route. Use the council map, respect gates and any restrictions posted along the way, and look at the monuments from the path. Leave time for road sections between stops.
The Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark describes the pyramid as a folly built to commemorate George Browne. It is part of a group of estate monuments that includes the carved stone known locally as the Gods of The Neale.
The follies
The Neale was the demesne of the Browne family, later the Barons of Kilmaine, and they built follies that still dominate the ground.
- The Pyramid – a stepped pyramid built around 1760 for Sir John Browne and said to commemorate his brother, Sir George. It was once crowned by a lead figure of Apollo, later swapped for a wind-vane, and the Office of Public Works refurbished it in 1990. Local lore adds that it doubled as relief work, paying tenants to clear and pile the estate’s stones.
- The Temple – built in 1865 by John Browne to mark his title of Lord Mount Temple: a hexagonal structure on six plain Doric columns, once timber-roofed.
- The Gods of The Neale – a stone enclosure holds carved slabs of a griffin, a unicorn and an angel. The inscription names Deithe Feile, Diana Ffeale and The Gods of The Neale, and that last is where the village got its name. View it from the route and respect any restrictions.
- The Long Stone (Lia Lugha) – a standing stone said to mark the burial of the hand of Lugh Lámhfhada, the Tuatha Dé Danann hero killed at the Battle of Moytura.
If you see only one, make it the Pyramid.
The Boycott story
Captain Charles Boycott managed the Lough Mask estate as its land agent. In the autumn of 1880, at the height of the Land War, when he moved to evict tenants during an agricultural slump, the surrounding community answered by refusing to deal with him. The tactic drew reporters from across Europe and America, and the name given to it, boycotting, was in newspapers worldwide within weeks. Fr John O’Malley, the parish priest, is associated with the word, and Fr O’Malley Millennium Park in the village, built in 2000 from stone of the old school and church, remembers him. The episode belongs to the wider district around Lough Mask rather than to any one marked spot, so treat it as background to the walk.
Visiting
The walk is self-guided and free. Check the council map before you set out, keep to the marked route and leave time for the road sections between stops. Ground conditions can vary, so wear suitable footwear. Facilities in the village are limited, so check what is open locally rather than counting on it.
Nearby
A short drive south, Cong has Ashford Castle and Cong Abbey; Ballinrobe to the north has its racecourse and river walks. The whole area lies within the Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark. Download the walk map before you come, and leave time to trace the Brownes’ strange architecture.