The Launch of The Mannion Clan Historical Trail and interpretive Guide by Teresa Mannion of RTÉ in the Abbey Inn,
Abbeyknockmoy on Friday 21st August 2015 at 9.00 pm
The Abbey Inn, Abbeyknockmoy on Friday 21st August 2015 at 9.00 pm
THE MANNION CLAN ASSOCIATION
Following a very well-attended lecture by Dr Joe Mannion entitled ‘The Mannion Clan of County Galway: Warriors, Chieftains, Kings’, hosted by Skehana and District Heritage Group in Menlough Community Centre on Friday 29 August 2014, the Mannion Clan Association is pleased to announce that two Clan related events have been scheduled to take place in conjunction with National Heritage Week 2015.
On Friday 21 August, an exciting project fittingly named The Mannion Clan Historical Trail will be launched in the Abbey Inn, Abbeyknockmoy at 9.00 pm. This free event will provide an ideal setting for members and friends of the Mannion Clan to renew old acquaintances and make new ones, and to hear and discuss the unique history and heritage of one of Ireland’s oldest families in the company of fellow enthusiasts gathered there. A comprehensive must have’ interpretive Guide to the Trail, featuring a Clan chronology spanning 2,600 years, a summary history of Clann Uí Mhainnín, together with location maps, photographs and documentary evidence relating to the principal medieval and early modern Mannion Clan places will also be launched on the night. The speakers on this special occasion will include Clan historian Dr Joe Mannion, who will give a brief overview of the history of the Mannion Clan; Marie Mannion, Galway County Council Heritage Officer, who will highlight the importance of preserving and promoting our rich cultural and archaeological heritage in the context of this very worthwhile project; and the very popular Teresa Mannion of RTÉ, who will officially launch The Mannion Clan Historical Trail and Guide.
On the following day, Saturday 22 August, Joe Mannion will lead a guided tour of the chief residential, ceremonial and burial sites constituting The Mannion Clan Historical Trail. Once again, this is a free event which is open to everybody to attend. All those interested are asked to assemble in the car park of Mannion’s Bar in Abbeyknockmoy before 2.00 pm for an introductory talk. Killaclogher, Clooncurreen and Menlough castle sites will then be visited in turn, as will Ráth Mór inauguration and judicial assembly site in nearby Mullaghmore West. Here, a Brehon law deed was drafted and signed in May 1584 for the Ó Mainnín Clan, and in commemoration of this historic event, a translation of the original Irish-language agreement will be symbolically read to the Mannions and their friends gathered once again on the ancient ceremonial hilltop after an interval of four hundred and thirty-one years.
The day’s activities will end at approximately 5.00 pm in the impressive ruins of Kilconnell Abbey, where the last known Chief of the Name of the Mannion Clan – John son of Malachy – was buried in a tomb dated 1648. Two of his kinsmen from Menlough, the principal stronghold of the Mannion Clan in later times, originally called Mionlach Uí Mhainnín, ‘the small lough of the Mannions’, are also named on a badly-weathered graveslab which is symmetrically placed before a Gothic canopied tomb niche on the north wall of the chancel.
The Mannion Clan Association extends a warm welcome to all to attend these entertaining and enlightening Heritage Week events, and we look forward to meeting and greeting a great many Mannions, along with descendants and friends of the Clan from near and far on both occasions. And so, let your preparations to attend the next gathering of the ancient and illustrious Mannion Clan begin . . . !!
The following links will be of benefit to all interested parties:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/themannionclan
Website: www.mannionclan.org
Email: info@mannionclan.org