Tuam, Tuaim, Co. Galway

Cathedral town where history sits in plain sight. Not all of it is comfortable.

Tuam is north Galway's working town. Thirty kilometres north of Galway city, it sits at a quiet crossroads between small farms and smaller villages, built on the back of St Jarlath's monastery in the 5th century. The town has two cathedrals - one Catholic, one Church of Ireland - and neither one looks like what you'd expect.

What you need to know: Tuam carries heavy history. In 1925, the Bon Secours Sisters opened a mother and baby home here. For thirty-six years, children died at rates that should have alarmed someone. In 2014, a local historian named Catherine Corless discovered that approximately 796 children were buried in a disused septic tank on the grounds. The discovery forced Ireland to reckon with itself. The town did too.

This is a place where the past speaks loud. The cathedrals are real - the Catholic cathedral is 19th century, functional, still in use. The Church of Ireland one is older, with a Romanesque chancel arch that survives from the 12th century. The High Cross still stands in the town square. And the knowledge of what happened at the mother and baby home doesn't go away when you leave.