Qualla: Leenane

Leenane: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mario Falcetti, CC BY 4.0. At the head of the valley behind Leenane rises a mountain that Irish-speakers call Magairlí an Deamhain, the devil's testicles. English mapmakers, looking at their maps and at their dictionaries, decided this would not do, and renamed it Devilsmother. The villagers of Leenane have always known what the mountain is actually called. The village sits at the head of Killary, the long narrow inlet often described as Ireland's only fjord, where saltwater pushes sixteen kilometres inland and the county boundary runs down the middle of the water. Population is about 200. Jim Sheridan filmed The Field here in 1990, and the dark hills above the village still look like a place where a man could die for a piece of land.

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Image: Mario Falcetti | CC BY 4.0

Leenane: Where the Tide Fills

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Britishfinance, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Irish name is An Líonán, 'where the tide fills.' The geography behind that name is precise. Killary fjord is a narrow saltwater inlet that runs east from the Atlantic for about 16 kilometres, cutting deep into the mountains between Galway and Mayo. The tide enters with force,...

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Image: Britishfinance | CC BY-SA 4.0

Leenane: The Field and the Cross

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0. Jim Sheridan's 1990 film The Field, starring Richard Harris as a tenant farmer fighting to keep land he has worked for years, was shot in and around Leenane. Harris was nominated for an Academy Award for the role. The film made Leenane briefly famous, and the local landscape was ...

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Image: Andreas F. Borchert | CC BY-SA 4.0

Leenane: Maam Valley and Mweelrea

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Britishfinance, CC BY-SA 4.0. South of Leenane the glaciated U-shaped Maam Valley runs southeast toward Lough Corrib, carrying the Joyce River along its floor. Maam means 'a pass,' and the R336 road through the valley is a natural driving route, part of the Connemara Loop. The Maamturk Mountains rise at its h...

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Image: Britishfinance | CC BY-SA 4.0

Leenane: Hamiltons, Boats, and the Western Way

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Textman at Dutch Wikipedia (Original text: Textman), CC BY-SA 2.5. Leenane is small enough that one shop covers everything: Hamiltons is the village shop, post office, and filling station. Killary Fjord Boat Tours run 90-minute cruises out into the fjord between April and October, two or three times a day, threading between the steep walls of mo...

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Image: Textman at Dutch Wikipedia (Original text: Textman) | CC BY-SA 2.5