National Museum of Country Life

Top choice in County Mayo

LoginSave

The extensive and engrossing displays of this riverside museum delve into Ireland's fascinating rural traditions and skills. It's set in a modern, photogenic facility that overlooks a lake in the lush grounds of 19th-century Turlough Manor. A branch of the National Museum of Ireland, the museum explores everything from the role of the potato to boat building, herbal cures and traditional clothes. It has a good cafe and a shop; it's 8km northeast of Castlebar.

The lovely Turlough Round Tower is visible from the grounds.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Ballintubber Abbey

    Ballintubber Abbey

    9.3 MILES

    Imposing Ballintubber Abbey is the only church in Ireland founded by an Irish king that remains in use. It's reputed to have been established in 1216 next…

  • St Mary's Well

    St Mary's Well

    19.85 MILES

    St Mary's is one of Ireland's most transfixing holy wells. An apparition of the Virgin Mary has drawn pilgrims here for centuries, and today a tumbledown…

  • Moore Hall

    Moore Hall

    11.86 MILES

    With towering walls engulfed in ivy and empty windows, Moore Hall is an astonishing and atmospheric ruin. Set beside Lough Carra, it was built in the…

  • Lackan Strand

    Lackan Strand

    27.03 MILES

    Lackan Bay's beach is a stunning and vast expanse of golden sand – it's particularly beautiful as the sun goes down, making it one of Ireland's most…

  • Knock Marian Shrine

    Knock Marian Shrine

    13.49 MILES

    A place of pilgrimage for decades, the Knock shrine includes five churches and a museum set amid landscaped grounds. The complex has evolved thanks to…

  • Inchagoill

    Inchagoill

    27.83 MILES

    The largest island on Lough Corrib, Inchagoill lies about 5km offshore from the lake's edge, some 8km north of Oughterard. The island is a lonely place…

  • Cong Abbey

    Cong Abbey

    24.02 MILES

    The evocatively weathered shell of Cong's 12th-century Augustinian abbey is scored by a cross-hatch of lines from centuries of exposure to the elements…

  • Ashford Castle Estate

    Ashford Castle Estate

    24.12 MILES

    Just beyond Cong Abbey, the village abruptly ends and the woodlands surrounding Ashford Castle begin. First built in 1228 as the seat of the de Burgo…

View more attractions

Nearby County Mayo attractions

1. Turlough Round Tower

0.46 MILES

Stretching up 23m and featuring a single lofty window, the magnificent Turlough Round Tower, a short distance northeast of the National Museum of Country…

2. Foxford Woollen Mill

7.77 MILES

Founded in 1892, the Foxford mill was set up to ease post-Famine suffering and provide much-needed work. It remained open until 1987, during which time…

3. Ballintubber Abbey

9.3 MILES

Imposing Ballintubber Abbey is the only church in Ireland founded by an Irish king that remains in use. It's reputed to have been established in 1216 next…

4. St Patrick's Church

10.99 MILES

Bursting at the seams with worshippers on Sundays, this small church has a magnificent stained-glass window depicting a girl being lowered in a lifeboat…

5. Titanic Memorial Park

11.27 MILES

With the bow of the RMS Titanic cast in bronze and statues of several of the 14 local passengers who were on the ship when it went down, this memorial…

6. Grace Kelly's Cottage

11.44 MILES

This tumble down, roofless ruin near Drumgoney Lough (Leg O' Mutton Lake) is the ancestral home of the late actress (and Princess of Monaco) Grace Kelly…

7. Moore Hall

11.86 MILES

With towering walls engulfed in ivy and empty windows, Moore Hall is an astonishing and atmospheric ruin. Set beside Lough Carra, it was built in the…

8. Knock Marian Shrine

13.49 MILES

A place of pilgrimage for decades, the Knock shrine includes five churches and a museum set amid landscaped grounds. The complex has evolved thanks to…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "url": "ireland/castlebar/attractions/national-museum-of-country-life/a/poi-sig/1176887/1316812",
  "destination": "County-Mayo",
  "continent": "Europe",
  "country": "Ireland",
  "region": "County-Mayo",
  "position": "superzone"
}