The History of The Irish...Worldwide
Saving 'The Quiet Man Cottage' from Extinction
The photo above shows White O'Morn Cottage in Tiernakill, Maumm, County Galway as it was in 1951 when Hollywood came to Connemara. People in Connemara and even in Galway City are still talking about that magical six-weeks to this very day.
This old site, which now lies in ruins, is better known to the world as "The Quiet Man Cottage." The structure was depicted as the home of Sean Thornton (played by John Wayne) and Mary Kate Danaher (played by Maureen O'Hara) in the 1952 motion picture "The Quiet Man."
As you will see in the video below, something needs to be done quickly if this lovely old place that survived the famine years and countless other hardships is to be brought back from the edge of final extinction. Maureen O'Hara, in 2004, called the state of the cottage a "national disgrace," and I think most will find it difficult to disagree with her assessment.
What can be done? What is being done? There are multiple groups and organisations currently trying to work with the current owner of the property and Galway County Council to bring this dream to fruition, but complications and red tape still stand in the way.
In this discussion thread, I'm hoping to hear from the groups and individuals involved in this ongoing saga. That includes the groups trying to raise awareness, the property owner, and the Galway County Council. I'm also hoping to hear from anyone who has seen that grand old film "The Quiet Man" and anyone who understands the inherent value in restoring and preserving this important piece of Ireland's past.
Related:
Q&A with Mike Ward from the "Save The Quiet Man Cottage" group
Tags: Connemara, Film, Galway, Movies, Preservation
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by mike ward on
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Hi Cara , i am not at all surprised you assumed Maureen O Hara is somehow connected with WHITE O MORN FOUNDATION, as indeed many people have been led to believe she is and one of the reasons for that is WHITE O MORN FOUNDATION is because due to the fact the two main admins of W. O . M . F very very strongly imply that Maureen supports their online community on the cause of the cottage and does not support any other group or community including my Group SAVE THE QUIET MAN COTTAGE advocating the cottage project , despite the fact it was our group S . T . Q . M . C which took up the cause in jan 2010 as the first on line group / community to take up the cause of the cottage on the internet , Now it so happens that one of the two admins of W . O . M . F is ( she claims ) Maureen O Haras movie archivist and has control / access to all Maureen's movies and pictures including some if not most of Maureen's personal and family pictures , she is and has been not only allowing total and exclusive access to most if not all that material to W . O . M . F , This lady just also happens to be the administrator of Maureen O Haras website titled Maureen O Hara Magazine , She also is the founder / chief admin of the Maureen O Hara on Face-book page , She also consistently promotes W . O M . F exclusively on Maureen's website and Face-book pages that she admins , and has on occasion objected to our groups use of pictures and videos that are freely available on the internet public domain and forced us to remove material posted on our group pages related to Maureen on the grounds of alleged copyright breach on several occasions She has written many articles to online magazines exclusively supporting and promoting W . O M.F as sole advocates of the cottage cause . Needless to say Carla this is grossly unfair and open abuse of her position for we know for certain Maureen would wholeheartedly support everyone and anyone advocating the cottage cause ,
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Hello Cara, Thank you for your very fair and valid reply above , i hope i can clear up your very understandable confusion i can do this via e mail only because my replies here are so heavily censored its extremely unlikely my reply to you here would be published , your very welcome to E Mail me at mikeward46@yahoo.ie
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Permalink Reply by Robin on
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My wife an I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in Cong and the surrounding area's and visiting most of the film locations but we are at a loss to understand how White O'Morn could have got is such a state.
We visited the site of this cottage in July 2014. It is reputed to be 200/300 years old so this site says but was known to be well over 100 years at the time of filming 'The Quiet Man'. It obviously was not in or anywhere the state that it is now and we cannot understand how on earth it could have got to the state that it is in now after only a few decades.
It is not even a bare shell, no floor etc. there are many thousands of properties all over the world that are 80/100 years old and much more in outstanding condition, what am I missing? also could anyone enlighten me as to what happened to the original stepping stones please.
Thanks in anticipation
Rob.
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Permalink Reply by Bit Devine on
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Rob, a chara,
Some of it comes down to fans of the quiet man movie wanting to take a "small piece" of the cottage with them ... over the years, those small pieces add up and the deterioration sets in when the building itself isn't maintained...
and the owner is American based with his own set of challenges...I have always been saddened that it was left to go like that... which is why I don't go by any longer...
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Permalink Reply by Luke Gerard Lanigan on
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To insinuate that the deterioration of the cottage is due to tourists taking parts of the building as souvenirs is totally ludicrous. While these actions may have occurred in minute proportions, this perception is a camouflage for the truth. The Tourist or indeed the weather are not responsible for the level of destruction which has taken place.While I am not in a position to provide you with the actual facts as to who or what is responsible, nor do I wish to mislead anyone with assumptions. Two facts that do exist, it is NOT the tourists or the weather, that is to blame for this destruction.
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Permalink Reply by Patrick McCormick on
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Indeed, it has always been easy to deflect the reality of this shameless - and wanton - destruction on tourists and the weather...
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I absolutely agree 100% with Luke. I was never ever convinced with the excuses that were put forward as to the reasons for the severe deterioration, the weather and souvenir hunters are nothing but poppy cock, minute proportions as Luke has said and nothing more. I did not expect and probably will never find out how a property that has withstood all weathers allegedly for some 200/300 years or known to be well over 100 years can possibly end up in this state after just a few decades. I have strong reservations as to whether the real truth will ever surface.
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Robin, i have over the past 40 yrs been very interested in the fate and welfare of the cottage but only in the past 5 years became actively involved on the project , by way of being the first person to launch an on line group / community via the social networks ( in Jan 2010 ) i have very little doubt this matter of the cottage is much more complex than it appears , indeed lots rumors abound over here in Ireland about probable deals been done with local business men and the owner of the ruins to allow the cottage to fade into oblivion , because the recovery and restoration of the ruins would deflect quiet man commercial business from Cong , which enjoys huge tourists benefits from tourists and fans of the movie , personally i dont think it would however thats just my opinion other may think the restoration of the cottage would sound the death knell for Cong , Now here is a very interesting observation made by many over the years , Masureen O Hara has or had over the years expressed deep concern about the dreadful condition of the ruins and spoke publicly about her love of the cottage that once was but now no more than a pile of stones , In fact she met the owner of the ruins here in Ireland in the 80s and had a long discussion with him however sadly nothing positive came from that meeting , did she offer to buy the cottage did she make any tangible proposals to the owner about leasing / donating the property M r. Ebbitt says no , I have been and am still in regular contact with the owner of the ruins ( Gregory Ebbitt ) over the past few years and he has been offered all 3 choices i. e lease donate or sell , so far he has made no decision , hence the impasse , Lots of fans say Maureen O Hara could very well afford to purchase the property outright from Mr. Ebbitt if she so wished but for some reason she declines ,
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Hi Mike,
Many thanks indeed for your input and reply, it makes very interesting reading. How very strange to read that Maureen O'Hara declines from purchasing the property I seriously wonder now what is behind it and why, one heck of a secret no doubt. Your reasoning sounds very logical though maybe in time the truth will surface let's hope that it does sooner rather than later.
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Lucas Gerard , While i would agree with most of what you said above in reply i am very curious about who or what would cause the the acceleration of deterioration , are you implying that a concerted and deliberate attempt is being made by persons known / unknown to hasten the demise of the ruins .
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As far as I am aware when Mr Ebbitt purchased the property in the early 80s the cottage had already been reduced to ruins and the property had long been used for grazing sheep and cows.
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