The Pigeon Hole and Kelly's Cave
About 1.4 km to the Pigeon Hole · Minimal elevation
About
The two accessible pieces of evidence for what the isthmus is actually doing. The Pigeon Hole, about 1.4 km west of the village in Cong Wood, is a collapsed cavern with steep stone steps going down to a subterranean stream: this is the water from Lough Mask on its way underground to Lough Corrib, and it is the same porous rock that sank the canal. Kelly's Cave sits closer in, about 800 metres north-east of the abbey on the road past the school. Both are gated or restricted for safety and neither is a show cave with lighting and a guide. Worth knowing before you set out: the Pigeon Hole is on the County Galway side of the boundary, even though it is a fifteen-minute walk from a Mayo village. Coillte currently has a notice on the Cong Forest page saying the main recreational trails are open but access to some trails remains restricted after storm damage, with repairs under way, so follow the signage on site.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓The stone stairway down into the Pigeon Hole
- ✓The underground stream carrying Lough Mask water to Lough Corrib
- ✓Kelly's Cave, on the road out past the national school
Tips
- →The Pigeon Hole is gated for safety. Treat it as somewhere to look into, not somewhere to go into.
- →Steps and rock are wet and slick nearly all year.
- →Do not go down alone and do not go without a torch even in daylight.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
Cong Abbey and the Royal Abbey cloister
Free, unguided twelfth-century Augustinian ruin in the middle of the village, where the last High King is said to have died.
The Monks' Fishing House
A roofless stone fishing hut built out over the Cong River, part of the abbey's national monument.
The Quiet Man Museum
A replica of the film's White O'Morn cottage, with original artefacts and a wall of 1951 newspaper cuttings.