A Special Comeragh Place - Ned Curran`s


Path leading into Ned`s with Coumtay on the right


What and Where is Ned Curran`s?

Situated in the beautiful cradle of the south-western Comeraghs, Ned Curran`s has a most idyllic location on the banks of the Tay in the jaws of the coum of the same name. Coumtay is Coum Mahon`s westerly neighbour. But Ned`s is about much more than scenery. Abandoned just three generations ago, Ned`s is one of the most evocative mountain ruins you will ever visit. One visit is all it takes to understand why.

A Scenic Walk to Ned`s from Mahon Falls

Mahon Falls car park is a good spot from which to start an out-and-back walk to Ned`s. From the car park follow the meandering road uphill in a southerly direction for about 500 metres to a sheep grid. The scenery is spectacular here. In the distance is Helvic Head while the Monavullagh Ridge is directly ahead. Dry Coum Éag is the hole in the ridge on the left, the dip in the ridge is Bearna an Mhadra saddle or col, while the highest point on the Monavullaghs, Seefin, lies directly to its right. Further right again two glacial holes beckon, Coum Knockaun and Coumtay. The grandeur of Coum Mahon is largely blocked out behind you as you wander downhill to reach a distinct track on the right about a kilometre from the sheep grid.

Turn right onto the track and, after 300 metres, pass off the path on your left. Take the right fork at the Y-junction at a gate, 400 metres further on. Walk uphill through the trees and after about 700 metres you reach a T-junction where you turn left. Shortly after this you reach a Y-junction where you take the left fork. Follow what looks like the remnants of an old walled boreen for a couple of hundred metres until you exit the trees at a small stream. At this point you should start to notice the walled fields and cluster of Scots Pine in the jaws of Coumtay. You are looking at an old abandoned farm known to hill walkers as “Ned Curran`s". Head over the brow and 500 metres later you are there.

Ned`s under the Scots Pine


A Special Comeragh Place - A Temple to a Bygone Way of Life

You hear the Tay river before you see it. Cross it and tarry awhile at the old ruin. Behind you to the south stretches the Waterford coastline while to the north lies Coumtay. This abandoned farm is a magnet for hill walkers (there is another abandoned farm, Doody`s, just a kilometre downstream along the Tay). One visit and you can see or should I say "feel" why. Its situation by the banks of the Tay and backed by the majestic coum is idyllic. It comprises two small fields and two larger ones, enclosed by stone walls dotted with Scots Pine and Holly. At its heart is the almost atmospheric ruin. This is a magical place – so evocative it will stir ancestral memories in your sensitive soul. As John O`Donohoe said in “Eternal Echoes”

“A ruin is never simply empty. It remains a vivid temple of absence”.

This particular ruin is indeed a powerful place. It almost forces you to empathize, to walk in someone else`s shoes from over a hundred years ago. The tumbling stones of the field walls and buildings bear silent but eloquent witness to a family`s attempts to eke out a living on the mountainside in distant, harsher times. The farm was abandoned just three generations ago, not a long time in the greater scheme of things. The first time I rambled down the boreen to Ned`s and rested awhile on its ruined walls I cried. You may too.



Coumtay Tarns from the Plateau

A Foray into Coumtay

If you wish to visit the heart of the coum it is better to keep the Tay stream on your left. The walking gets more strenuous now, the ground damper and steeper, the breathing heavier, but the effort will be worth it! Compact rush dominates the lower slopes but soon more and more conglomerate erratics appear, marking the approach of the end moraine that has blocked out views of the coum `til now. Half an hour later you crest this feature – you have arrived! 

Coumtay doesn`t have the large lake that many Comeragh corries possess. Persevere for another 500 metres to the innermost hollow, however and you will be rewarded with 5 or 6 large pools/small lakes. The Vikings called these “Tarns”. Linger a while and enjoy nature`s balm amongst all the humps and hollows. When you leave the corrie, keep the tarns and the river Tay on your right and head back to Ned`s. From there it is a pleasant stroll back to your car.


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