Lahardane

Lahardane ( _ga. Leathardán)(Mayo) is a small village in the parish of Addergoole County Mayo, Ireland, adjacent to Lough Conn and to Nephin, and close to the towns of Crossmolina, Castlebar and Ballina. Population is about 500, but rising rapidly due to new housing developments.

Historically, the people of Lahardane and the surrounding area helped the French army under General Humbert during the 1798 uprising when the local priest, Fr Andrew Conroy, led French and Irish forces to Castlebar though the Windy Gap, a passage though the Mountains. The British forces had been expecting the French to go to Foxford first, and were caught off-guard. This led to the "Races of Castlebar". After the uprising was put down, Fr Conroy was hung on the Mall in Castlebar, and buried probably in the old abbey in Addergoole cemetery. A Celtic cross now stands proudly in Lahardane as a memorial to his bravery.The cross was erected in 1937 by Michéal Ó Tiomanaidhe, the famous Gaelic scholar, Irish writer and folklore collector who was born in Cartoon in the parish of Addergoole on 20th September 1853.

Addergoole parish suffered the largest proportionate loss for any locality probably in the world when the RMS Titanic sank in 1912. The Addergoole Fourteen boarded the ship at Queenstown (Cobh). Three survived the disaster. There is a plaque in St Patrick's Church, Lahardane to the memory of the fourteen.

There is more than one Lahardane in the Republic of Ireland. The location of Lahardane (Mayo)is at coordinates:Latitude 54° 1'49.30"NLongitude 9°18'49.18"W

Lahardane - Lahardane Fair Day on August 15th

The history of the Lahardane Fair goes back to around the turn of the centurey, that is 1900, so it is a tradition of perhaps 100 years. It was a traditional Harvest Festival, as was practised in the West of Ireland at the time and it was always held on the 15th August, a feast day. It is, of course, a religious holiday as well.At that time, it would be noted for its tradition of hiring of the yound folk to various farmers and was often known as the’Hiring Fair’. This tradition, of course died out when Ireland became independent in 1922 and it became a traditional day for the sale of cattle and sheep. This situation prevailed for the following 70 to 80 years but in the seventies, it fell into disrepute because in the streets, there was very little selling going on of the traditional kind, that is sheep and cattle, because the marts had taken over all this business, and it had degenerated into a pitiful gathering of people trying to maintain an old tradition.The Lahardane Parents Council, that is the parents of those children attending the National School, decided to revive the Fair Day and make it a worthy occasion, when people could be enticed to visit the village for one day of the year. They agreed to continue the traditional day of August 15th and resisted the temptation to move it to the nearest weekend as most other communities have done with their particular festivals throughout the year. Instead, the Lahardane Fair Day always falls on August 15th, regardless of whichever day that is. This year, the year 2002, is the 16th year of the revived fair and with each and every passing year, it has proved more and more successful. The number of people attending the village for the day is extraordinary. Essentially, the day is used to raise funds for the Lahardane National School. To date, perhaps, over 60,000 Euro has been raised to help support the school. Thee particular finances have been well spent, in agreement with the Board of Management and the Parents Council with the recent extension of the school, that is the new roof, the new rooms, extra class room and activities room, pluse the provision of an enclosed basketball court and the updating of all the surrounds of the school. Within the school, there has been the provision of more modern furniture, fittings for the school, audio-visual equipment, computers and photocopiers and other such applicances, which are now the norm in a progressive school. Finances have also been provided for school tours and recreational activities for all the pupils. Also, as originally promised by the parents when they started off, money was put forward towards the development of the Lahardane Community Centre and approximately e11,000 was given towards the building this year. Other projects have also been funded by the Lahardane Parents Council, that is the Nephin Climb, which is always held on the first Sunday of August, the week after the Reek climb.The actual Fair Day this year started out with a very overcast sky and a hint of rain, but by 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the day had turned out to be a beautiful one and a huge crowd turned up in the village from 3 o’clock on. The village was packed out until about 3 o’clock in the morning! Entertainment was provided for all, but particularly for the children of all the natives and all the visitors, who come to the village for this particular day. On the field each year, you have children’s races and sports and there is always a huge number of participating children from all parts of the country. There is also a Fun Fair, Bouncy Castle, Face Painting and adult games such as ‘Toss the Bale’, ‘Penalty Shot’, ‘Cockshot’ etc. and there is a ‘Guess the Weight’ of various farm animals, Irish Coffess, novelty Auction and various other raffles and amusements.When the Fair Day was inaugurated in 1968, Lahardane was the first community in Ireland to use the idea of a Cow Pot Lottery. People of this community were the first community to come up with this idea and use it as a means of raising funds. It attracted amazing attention at the time and for the following number of years. The idea was a brilliant idea for fund raising through selling tickets and it wasy a most unusual way of doing things, and it certainly caught the public imagination! However, it has been more than well played out at this stage and the Cow Pat Lottery has been dropped. On the streets of Lahardane on Fair Day, you still have the idea of a sale of animals, as was the case for the last hundred years. The animals may have changed somewhat, in that it is lambs and sheep for sale in the morning, plus all the other associated animals you find in a farmyard, that is chickens, ducks, geese, the odd turkey, puppies, cats, birds of other descriptions and various farm produce. This is as it should be at a traditional fair day in the West of Ireland, and the Lahardane Parents Council are delighted to have revived this tradition and maintain what has been a fashion for the Lahardane Fair Day for over 100 years. There is a wonderful atmosphere on the streets of Lahardane on this one day fo the year, and there are numerous visitors both from within Co. Mayo and from without. There are numerous folk from the UK and the USA who always plan their holidays around this one fortnight, because they are sure to meet people of their own era when they return to Lahardane Fair.The Lahardane Fair has also been associated with the revival of an old tradition - the Donkey Fair. The Donkey Fair is always held on the Sunday before August 15th, and is now in its third year. It is designed to promote the idea of bringing back the donkey to the street for one day of the year, and it involves the show of donkeys, that is mares, foals, jack donkeys, mules, jennets and in particular a display of donkey carts. The idea of getting the donkey cart back again is because this particular item is practically gone off the face of the earth, so an idea was put forward that they should be brought back and put on display on one day, and that children might get the once-in-a-lifetime chance of a trip in a donkey cart. It is a wondrous site to see several carts going around a circuit in the field at Lahardane Fair. Hopefully, in time to come, this particular item will gain in popularity, and make Lahardane, perhaps the donkey capital of the country.If you have never been to Lahardane Fair, well then, it is always held on August 15th, whatever day that falls on, so be sure to come next year and bring all the kids, because it is a very safe place to be for the day. Most parents always comment that they drop the kids for the day and have no worries about where they are, because it is a very safe little village - something that, in this day and age, is very hard to come by. So see you all then at next year’s Lahardane Fair, that is August 15th

Lahardane in Fiction

Lahardane is the name of the house in the 2002 novel, The Story of Lucy Gault, by William Trevor.The novel is set on the south coast of Ireland and, other than the name, there is no connection with the Mayo village.