Cloonfad
Cluain Fada

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Cluain Fada · Co. Roscommon

A long meadow village where the west starts making its own weather.

Cloonfad sits at the crossroads of the N83 National secondary road and the R327 regional road, about ten kilometres from Ballyhaun in County Mayo. The Irish name Cluain Fada means "long meadow" — the place opens itself up to the sky.

The Church of Saint Patrick was erected in 1934, foundation stone blessed that September by Thomas Gilmartin, Archbishop of Tuam, the work completed by December. The village has the quiet of places where most roads lead somewhere else. But that quiet is its own thing — moorland runs up to the edge of things, and a public walkway connects the village to neighbours through surrounding countryside.

Population

308 (2016 census)

Coords

53°41'31"N 8°44'33"W

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Stories & lore.

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

Built in the 1930s

The church

Work began in September 1932, with the foundation stone blessed by the Archbishop of Tuam. The church was finished and dedicated on 12 August 1934. It stands as a marker of what the place was then — a settled village with the resources to build something that would outlast generations.

Sport on moorland

The handball tradition

Cloonfad Handball Club was established in the 1930s, one of the oldest sporting organisations in the parish. In a place this small, the club is the organised gathering — it holds the winter and the few who want to be part of something together.