village

Looks more like the Leenane Hotel, Co Galway, to me - with Killary Harbour in the foreground: catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000320316 catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000327116 catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000332288

A re-take from 1990/91: catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000354789

maps.app.goo.gl/PV7zbGWW1EkQXrL27?g_st=ic

Previously -

A little history, which suggests late 1880s onwards “The village of Leenane as we know it did not exist until the 1880’s. Prior to this, the village centre was located at the hotel, with two further clusters on Lettirbricaun and Lachan. These have now almost completely disappeared; one through famine and the former through eviction. It was not until some decades after the building of the Leenane Bridge by Nimmo, that the planned village was built. From Cromwellian times onwards, most of the land in the area was owned by Trinity College. Much of the land passed into the hands of other absentee landlords, and the inhabitants lived lives of fairly unremitting poverty. Lazy Beds (potato drills) high on the barren mountains bear testimony to their struggle to produce food. The area was hard hit by the successive famines of the 1800s, and the scenes of starvation recorded by the Society of Friends on Killary in 1847 makes for hard reading. The big changes began in the 1880s. The hotel flourished and expanded, bringing increasing amounts of money into the area. More importantly, the Congested Districts Board introduced a weaving school and set up a local weaving industry which operated from the hotel. A girls lace-making school was also set up, which was visited by Queen Alexandra on the royal visit of 1903, when King Edward VI toured the area. In the early decades of the 20th century, tenant farmers began to receive the land they had farmed for generations as the Land Commission bought out landlords” www.leenanevillage.com/history.html Most of the land was owned by Trinity, who’d have thought?

Trailer for the series Ballykissangel (about an English priest who gets appointed to a parish in Ireland) www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr6gFZsEmuE The bridge can be seen at about 30 seconds, followed by the church.

I won't be saying anything of value about the photograph but I've been through Avoca many times on my bike while on holiday and staying either near or in Arklow. I love the place.

A screenshot from Ballykissangel Behind The Scenes Part One which explains why they chose Avoca, despite it being nothing like the village described in the script.

Do you know there is an Avoca, Tasmania?

There is an earlier Cabinet photo from exactly the same spot. Thought it was the same day, but no - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000334422

CHATILLON en DIOIS