In 1904 Patrick Kavanagh, Irelands first rural working class poet of renown was born down the road in the little hamlet of Mucker in the parish of Inniskeen, which is itself a small village in County Monaghan close to the border with Armagh.
This centre honouring him is housed in Inniskeen's former 19th century RC church of St Mary's, and here he attended mass, in between long hours of farming, and work as a cobbler too. This before he gave it all up to a pursue literary career in Dublin, although Inniskeen and the country all around here were to play a huge part in his poems & novels. Truly the title 'Kavanagh country', here is well justified. Even this church features in his comic, semi autobiographical novel "Tarry Flynn".
He died in 1967 and his very rustic grave is in the churchyard around the back.
The centre which is very well organized, functions both as a museum & research library, as well hosting a whole host of events & talks throughout the year.
Patrick Kavanagh is very well known in Ireland, though not so well known elsewhere, although some of his work is better known than him. The song "On Raglan Road" for instance has of course become an Irish standard, and it was Kavanagh himself who set his own poem to music, It's also a popular name for Irish theme bars throughout the world, including the one in Disney world, Florida!
When actor Russell Crowe famously quoted PK's short poem "Sanctity" at the BAFTA` awards in England some years back, few there knew anything about him, and the next day newspapers were full of biographical details about him.
He's a fascinating & pleasingly anarchic individual to get to know, and his poems particularly "The Great Hunger", which isn't about the famine, (but more the great hunger for sex!), are earthy, peverse & simply no-tricks beautiful.
Even if you're in this locality with no prior interest in the man there's enough here to satisfy & inspire. Worth checking out the half an hour straight to camera monologue that he recorded for RTÉ back in 1962. Relayed on a large screen in their 60 seater Audio-visual theatre, although it's a poor quality recording it's in turn hilarious & deeply moving.
Note: Check for performance tours around the area with a local actor in the season. Also on Saturdays it's only open by prior arrangement. read more