Aughnacliffe
Áth na Cloiche

STOP 03 / 03

Áth na Cloiche · Co. Longford

A hamlet on the Cavan border where Lough Gowna holds a monastery bell.

Aughnacliffe — Áth na Cloiche, the ford of the stone — is a small hamlet on the Longford side of the Cavan-Longford border, sitting south and slightly inland from Lough Gowna. It is very small: a handful of houses, a local church, very few services. The name is old, but the place has never been larger than it is now.

What defines Aughnacliffe is its neighbour. Lough Gowna lies just across the boundary to the north, a complex lake shaped by the drumlins into bays and channels. The lake's history ran across two counties: the sixth-century monastery on Inchmore Island in the centre of the water. When the island was abandoned in the dissolution of 1543, a fifteenth-century bell from that monastery was recovered. It was brought south over the border and installed in the church here. It is still there.

If you are staying around Lough Gowna and want to be on the Longford side, this is where you are. There is no pub, no shop, no restaurant. But the lake is close, Granard is twenty minutes south, and you are on quiet land where the drumlin country meets the water.

Population

~320

Coords

53.8667° N, 7.5833° W

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At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The lake

Lough Gowna sits just north across the county line.

The Cavan-Longford boundary cuts through the lake itself. Loch Gowna village is in Cavan; Aughnacliffe is the next cluster of houses south on the Longford side. The lake's irregular shoreline is driven by the drumlins underneath it.

Stories & lore → 02 The monastery bell

A fifteenth-century bell hangs in the parish church.

Inchmore Island in Lough Gowna held a monastery from the sixth century. When the island was abandoned, a tower bell from the fifteenth century was recovered and brought south. It now hangs in the Catholic church here at Aughnacliffe.

Stories & lore →

02 / 03

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

From Inchmore Island to Aughnacliffe

The monastery bell

Inchmore Island in Lough Gowna held a monastery from the sixth century, attributed to Colmcille and his missionary work across the north of Ireland. The community survived Viking raids in 804 and eventually adopted Augustinian rules in the twelfth century before being dissolved by Henry VIII in 1543. A fifteenth-century bell from the monastery was recovered in the nineteenth century and brought to the parish church at Aughnacliffe, a few kilometres south over the Longford border. The bell is one of the few physical remnants of seven hundred years of monastic life on that island.

Getting there.

By car

From Granard: 20 minutes north via the N55. From Loch Gowna village: 5 minutes south across the county boundary via the R194. From Longford town: about 35 minutes via Granard.

By bus

No direct service. The nearest useful connection is via Granard or Cavan town.

By train

Nearest station is Longford, 35 minutes south. Then taxi or hire car.

By air

Dublin Airport is 2.5 hours. Shannon is 2 hours.