Qualla: Neale, County Mayo

Neale, County Mayo: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aiden Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Neale, a small village in south County Mayo, has a step pyramid. A 30-foot stone pyramid built in the late eighteenth century stands inside the old demesne wall, rising in tiered steps from a base nearly 40 feet wide. It once carried a lead statue of Apollo at its summit. It was designed by the Earl of Charlemont and built by Sir John Browne, 1st Baron of Kilmaine, possibly as a memorial to his brother, possibly to relieve local poverty, possibly both. The pyramid is the most visible of the village's many follies, but it is far from the strangest thing in The Neale. The village also holds a stone said to mark the grave of an Irish god, a temple of Doric columns, and the church of the parish priest who coined a word now used worldwide.

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Image: Aiden Clarke | CC BY-SA 2.0

Neale, County Mayo: The Word Boycott Was Born Here

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew Woodvine, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1880, Captain Charles Boycott was the land agent for Lord Erne's estate at Lough Mask, a few kilometres from The Neale. When Boycott attempted to raise the rents on his tenants, the Land League, led nationally by Charles Stewart Parnell, urged a new kind of resistance: complet...

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Image: Andrew Woodvine | CC BY-SA 2.0

Neale, County Mayo: The Pyramid as Charity

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. El Comandante assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain. Multiple stories surround the pyramid's construction around 1760. One holds it was a memorial built by Sir John Browne to honour his brother Sir George Browne, designed by Browne's brother-in-law, the Earl of Charlemont. Another, perhaps complementary, says that Lord Kilmaine was...

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Image: No machine-readable author provided. El Comandante assumed (based on copyright claims). | Public domain

Neale, County Mayo: The Gods of The Neale

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mike Searle, CC BY-SA 2.0. About 200 yards east of the village, inside the old demesne wall and near the ruins of Lord Kilmaine's house, stands a stone structure containing a collection of carved slabs. The carvings depict three mythical figures: a griffin, a unicorn, and an angel. An inscription identifie...

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Image: Mike Searle | CC BY-SA 2.0

Neale, County Mayo: The Temple and the Big House

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Laurel Lodged, CC0. The 400-acre Neale estate was surrounded by a high double wall. Inside the wall, the Browne family built a collection of follies and monuments. The Temple, the last folly to be built, was constructed in 1865 by John Browne, Baron of Kilmaine, to honour his first title, Lord Mount...

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Image: Laurel Lodged | CC0

Neale, County Mayo: Football and a Thatched Pub

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eirambler, CC BY-SA 4.0. In October 2012, the Neale GAA Junior team won the County Mayo Junior Club Championship, beating Ardnaree 2-09 to 1-17 in extra time at MacHale Park in Castlebar. It was the first championship of any kind for the club in its 110 years of existence at Junior level. They were promo...

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Image: Eirambler | CC BY-SA 4.0