Glengowla's Thatched Cottage

By Denis Geoghegan

           

Geoghegan’s thatched cottage is situated three miles west of Oughterard, on the N59.

The present cottage was originally a stable for horses. The shed used to house the trap for the horses and is still in use today. It is still called the “cart house”. The cart house runs parallel to the boundary garden wall between Geogehagn’s and Joe & Mildred Joyce’s property, and is at a right angle to the cottage. This cart house dates back to the early eighteen hundred’s.

The house which was lived in at that time (as the present cottage was used as a horse stable) it’s gable was at a right angle to the road (N59) part of the back wall still forms part of the boundary wall between Geoghegan’s Joe & Mildred Joyce’s land.

 

Catherine Naughton and her brother Michael lived in this house, it was know as “Garabaldi’s” because they had a picture of Garabaldi over the fireplace.  Their parents lived across the road where Dunne’s house is now. Catherine Naughton died and is buried on the right hand side as you enter the graveyard in Oughterard. There are railings around the grave. Michael (Michael Daithi) then married Margaret Burke from Recess, and that is when they converted the horse stable into a one bedroom house and a small kitchen. The front door was where the present kitchen window is now, and the room was to the right of that as it is today.

 

Michael and Margaret had four children, Davy, John, Bridget (a nun), and Pat. Pat was born in 1874 (the youngest) and died in 1955. He married Ellen O Halloran born 1892 in Gort na Grouch, (where Doreen Hickey’s is now) and she died 1976. When they married, they extended the cottage, towards the N59 (from the left hand side as you look at the house). They extended from the present kitchen window, which was then the front door. The kitchen was extended to its present size, and another room added on. This room is right next to the road (N59). This design still remains today.

 

The extension was carried out by a local tradesman named Patsy Clancy, a native of  Glengowla who was married to Eileen Clancy. This extension was carried out in the late 1930’s. Pat and Ellen Naughton had two children, Margaret and Kathleen. Margaret still lives in the cottage today. She married Josie Geoghegan form Glengowla in 1954, and had seven children. Kathleen died in 2000.

This page was added on 12/12/2013.

Comments about this page

  • I have many great memories of visiting that cottage and seeing my Geoghegan cousins. Josie Geoghegan was great with the history of everything in Glengola and I learned a lot from him. And of course I was blessed to have been able to meet my grandfather’s sister, Aunt Nellie (Ellen O’Halloran Naughton).

    By Brian O'Halloran (10/07/2021)

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