National Museum of Ireland - Museum of Country Life

The Museum of Country Life is in Turlough Park, Castlebar, County Mayo.  The property was given to John Fitzgerald as part of the Cromwellian Plantation of 1656, displacing the Bourke Clan who were the original landowners.  Best known as the home of George Robert Fitzgerald, "The Fighting Fitzgerald", who fought with his family over succession rights and fought with other landowners and terrorized others with the help of his body-guards or "volunteers" as he called them.  He was executed in 1786 for participating in the murder of a man named Pat Randall McDonnell.

Turlough Park House, pictured below, was built in 1866 for Charles Lionel Fitzgerald.  It now belongs to the Mayo County Council and is part of the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life.

There was a castle on the property belonging to the displaced Walter Bourke, and the ruins of the original house buit by the Fitzgeralds.  Not sure what this one is, as it was again a cold, rainy day (big surprise!) so we didn't walk around the gardens.

The museum was interesting.  It had a lot of things to see, including information about Irish language, education, dance, and music.  Also it had a lot of information about the straw industry. 

And the coup de gras!  The Strawboys!

Strange but true...

And finally, our little thugs...