Carlow Tourism

9 hours ago

Carlow's Town and Villages 🏠⛪

Ardattin is a picturesque country village, 6 km south of Tullow near the River Slaney. Ardattin’s name derives from the Irish for ‘Height of the Furze (or Gorse)’. While lyrical, this name gives no hint of how a local man gave the United States its presidential electoral college, how a visit by St Patrick affected the appetites of horses and how ancient standing stones led to 19th century misfortunes

No Horse for Patrick - Aghade Church was reputedly founded by Iserninus, a nephew of St Patrick. Once, Patrick asked to borrow a horse from a local person
claiming it would find its own way home. The sceptical owner refused, saying the animal was hungry after working all day. Annoyed, Patrick announced that the poor horse would always be hungry. From then on, horses have eaten through the night

Standing Stones and long-standing beliefs - There are many megalithic stones through the area including one at Craans, that can be viewed from the roadside and another which stands beside Ardoyne Graveyard between Ardattin and Tullow. Here, a 19th century landowner apparently attracted bad luck by removing a dolmen grave. He was told the only remedy was to kill a calf and hang it up in his doorway – and, of course, put the ancient stones back.

The Healer of Ardattin - Over a decade after his death, the divining abilities of local man William Thackaberry are still recalled in Ardattin. A farmer, his reputation as a formidable diviner grew after he retired and could focus on the practice full time. William Thackaberry was consulted for cures, to find lost objects, locate water supplies, identify problems with buildings and land and help in many other ways. He himself had no real explanation for his abilities. He could only suggest that there might be a genetic aspect to it. Supporting this belief, his son appears to have inherited some of his abilities and a distant relation named Thackaberry who lived in Wexford apparently also possessed similar powers

📍Ardattin, County Carlow, Ireland.

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