Edward Martyn (1859–1923)
The playwright who changed nothing onstage and everything else
Martyn's own plays were not a success. What made him extraordinary was his generosity and ear for culture. He founded the Palestrina Choir in 1903 (still the resident choir at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral). He co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre with Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1896 and covered the costs of the first three seasons — this was crucial to the theatre's survival and to the eventual founding of the Abbey. He funded the Irish Theatre in Dublin. He sponsored An Túr Gloine, Ireland's first stained-glass workshop. He was a musician himself, playing organ at Tullira. Lady Gregory called him 'a good neighbour' and described his death in December 1923 as leaving her 'a loneliness'. His final act: he donated his body to medical science. He is buried at Glasnevin and the Palestrina Choir sang at his graveside.
Monastic roots
The round tower in the churchyard
The remains of a round tower stand in the churchyard at Labane, near Ardrahan. This suggests that a monastic community occupied the site before the castle was built. A church at Labane contains stained glass windows by Alfred E. Child and Michael Healy — artists Martyn would have known. The tower is a reminder that Ardrahan has older layers. Medieval lords and modern patriots overlay something older still.
Ardrahan hurling
The GAA club that won in 1894 and kept winning
Ardrahan GAA won its first Galway Senior Hurling Championship in 1894 — 130 years ago. Since then, the club has won 11 titles and contested 18 county finals. Only Castlegar has more titles in Galway hurling. The village has also produced a camogie club that has won Féile finals and reached All-Ireland semi-finals. Hurling is the parish sport. The land is limestone and small fields — good hurling country.
The House on the Borderland
A ghost story in a novel
William Hope Hodgson mentioned Ardrahan in his 1907 weird-fiction novel The House on the Borderland. He referenced it as the nearest greater village to a fictional place called Kraighten. It is a small thing, but it means Ardrahan has appeared in published fiction — perhaps the only such mention of this quiet village in the international literary record.