Drumkeary: Discover Nature and Cultural Heritage

Nature and cultural heritage around Drumkeary

Near Drumkeary is the Slieve Aughty Mountains Special Protection Area, designation code 004168. The protected area extends wholly or partly across the townlands of Drumkeary East and Drumkeary West in County Galway. It was designated in 2012. This means that the landscape around Drumkeary is also shaped by a named protected area.

A notable historic building nearby is Eagle Hill. This detached country house was built around 1750 and has two storeys. Its façade features five bays and a shallow central breakfront, along with bowed end elevations. A two-storey stairwell extension with a bowed end adjoins the house, as does a single-storey extension to the northwest. The different parts of the building and the detailed description of its façades give it a distinctive architectural character.

St Patrick’s Well in Drimkeary is also one of the area’s named cultural features: the well is described as a holy well. Together with Eagle Hill and the protected area, it offers a glimpse of several themes—from landscape and protected-area designation to architecture and religious tradition.

More perspectives across the wider Galway destination

The wider Galway destination offers further nature and culture to explore. Portumna Forest Park covers almost 450 hectares. Coole Park has two waymarked trails of different lengths and with different route features: the easy Family Trail is 1.75 kilometres long. It passes the site of the former house and goes through the walled garden to the Autograph Tree. The Seven Woods Trail is 4.5 kilometres long and passes a viewpoint overlooking Coole Lake, as well as extensive wetlands. This makes it easy to distinguish between a shorter route with several named stops and a longer trail with views of the lake and wetlands.

In Connemara National Park, the 6.5-kilometre Diamond Hill Walk leads to the 445-metre summit of Diamond Hill. These details give both the route length and summit height. Dún Aonghasa offers a different focus: the site is more than 3,000 years old. The visitor centre is open year-round and offers guided tours. It is located at the start of a 1-kilometre footpath to the clifftop fort.

The buildings in the Galway area also differ in history and setting. Aughnanure Castle is a late-medieval tower house on a rocky outcrop above the Drimneen River, near the western shore of Lough Corrib. Kylemore Abbey began as a lakeside castle in the 1860s, built by Mitchell Henry for his wife Margaret. An admission ticket to Kylemore Abbey includes the abbey, church, mausoleum, woodland and lakeside walks, and the Victorian Walled Garden.

The Connemara Pony Heritage Centre explores the history, legacy, tradition and culture of the Connemara pony. It opened in November 2025 and presents these themes through storytelling, visual exhibitions, digital and traditional imagery, and films. Galway therefore offers a focus not only on landscapes and historic buildings, but also on tradition and how it is presented.

Discover more destinations: Lettermore, Clonbur, Inisheer, Castlerea, Tully Cross, Inishmore, Monard, Recess

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