North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Cross Roads

There's nothing worse than a riled horse...this one had literally come to the end of his tether...so best keep out of his way.

There was a horse fair in Maam Cross on Sunday. Normally, Peacock's would be jammed with buyers, sellers and spectators having a feed or maybe just even taking shelter from the cold.

Time's up for Peacocke's...

Not this year - the placed closed two weeks ago after a bank appointed a Receiver, which is usually the prelude to a fire sale, unless it can be sold on as a going concern (unlikely since then it wouldn't need a receiver in the first place). You can see some mixed views of the restaurant and hotel on TripAdvisor here.

It seems like Maam Cross has always been a crossroads trying to better itself, not always successfully. It used to be a stopping point for the Bianconi stage coach service and later was chosen as the site for a railway station on the old Clifden line - the remains of the station still stand near Peacocke's. The railway station closed in 1935, and in more recent years, the pub and restaurant - and later hotel - complex became a well-known stopping-off point for tourist coaches on their way through Connemara. The current owner of Peacocke's, Basil Keogh, had successfully lobbied Galway County Council to have Maam Cross upgraded to a "Settlement Centre" (i.e. village) and it was this designation that enabled him to get planning permission for a set of apartments and holiday homes across the road from the hotel - this development, according to the Connacht Tribune, will still go ahead.

The horse dealers didn't starve on Sunday - the petrol station between the hotel and the mart did a roaring trade, as did the chip van parked outside the gates of the mart. Both the mart and the petrol station is also owned by Keoghs, so they won't starve either.

Maam Cross is another spot whose Irish name doesn't have any connection to the English one. An Teach Dóite (the burnt house) refers to the fate of the stage coach stop, Butler's Lodge, 166 years ago.

galway, ireland, irishblogs,monasette

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Posted by Monasette at December 5, 2005 10:38 PM