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

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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   ,  

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    

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.  

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...

Many thanks, Rob.

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.     

Indeed, it has always been easy to deflect the reality of this shameless - and wanton - destruction on tourists and the weather...

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.  

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  ,  

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.

 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 . 

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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