Town which boasts pearls among swine

SWINFORD, Co Mayo - Beal Atha Na Muice as Gaeilge - would have intrigued Hugh, the hedge school master in Brian Friel's play Translations, currently playing at the Abbey theatre in Dublin. It means the same in English as in Irish, almost. The Gaeilge translates as "the mouth of the ford of the pigs/swine," hence, swin(e)-ford. Pigot's Director (1824) explains that there was a large pig market in the town.

Though now by passed by the INS en route to Castlebar, the main road to Ballina still passes through the town. However, even this partial decline in traffic has made a difference to the quality of life in the town. Allied to some fine improvements by Mayo County Council and the local Development Organisation, including the repaving of footpaths, the removal of all overhead cables, with new Victorian style street lights, and the sand blasting of the old railway bridge, it has made a pretty place of what was just another pedestrian small town. Which was hardly safe for pedestrains.

It is a place for those who like a leisurely life, with pastimes to suit. It provides some of the finest salmon fishing in the country, particularly beautiful cross country walks, a history - at once tragic - and intriguing - going back to megalithic times, and plenty of cosy pubs.

. INFORMATION: The town's tourist information point is at Paul Casey's Centra shop on Bridge Street. Open from 6.30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday to Saturday; 6.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. Mr Casey himself is available there most of the day, every day, and no one could be more helpful.

. WHAT TO SEE: Swinford, along with Erris and Skibbereen, was one of the places hardest hit in Ireland by the Famine and for that reason alone The Workhouse there is worth a visit. Opened in 1847, its occupants died so fast they were buried in an open grave near the building now marked by a plaque to the memory of the 564 victims. An infant buried prematurely was rescued when his hand was seen moving. Pat Cox grew up to become the town crier. Another burial site, behind the town's vocational school and known as The Paupers' Grave, holds the remains of thousands of Famine victims who did not get as far as the workhouse. The Courthouse on Davitt Street was built in 1839 by William Brabazon - then the major landlords in the area. It was burned during the Civil War and was then reconstructed in its present form. Our Lady Help of Christian's Catholic Church, on Church Street, is an unremarkable example of its neoGothic type, built in 1891, but is worth visiting for its unusual Station's of the Cross, in oil and masonite, by Richard King and unveiled in 1953. There is also a bust of Our Lady of Swinford by Nuala Craegh. But above all the church has strikingly beautiful stained glass windows, not least those of Christ the King and the Immaculate Conception opposite the baptistry window. Meelick Round Tower is about a mile south west of Swinford. Dating from the 10th century it is 70 feet high and is on the site of a monastery founded by St Broccaidh, of which little remains. Of archaeological interest are the neolithic habitation sites at Callow near the town and Barnacahogue about four miles away.

. WHAT TO DO:

For the very best trout, eel, and above all salmon, fishing there's the river Moy which loops Just three miles from the town. For brown trout fishing there's the river Gweestion, just 1 1/2 miles away. Four miles west are the Callow lakes with their abundance of brown trout and salmon, and to the north west Lough Cullin, which is favoured by salmon anglers. There's horse riding at Carrawbeg stud and the Barley Hill stables in Bohola, four miles away. Golf on Swinford's nine hole course is available from £7 a day. For the walker the area is paradise. There are four separate walks ranging in length from two miles for the Brabazon golf course walk to 12 miles for the Logcurragh/Killasser walk.

. WHERE TO EAT:

Fare is wholesome, and rarely costs more than £12 a head per main course at restaurants in the area. The Heather Lodge, which also offers a fine range of seafood dishes, is on Main Street and opens from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day. The Green Door restaurant, on Market Street, offers traditional home cooking all day. While Greaney's pub on the Square offers high quality bar food.

. WHERE TO STAY:

The Heather Lodge B&B, on Main Street offers en suite rooms at £15 a night. A favoured facility in the area is self catering accommodation. The Cashel Schoolhouse, with three bedrooms, is available for £200 a week in September. It is booked out until then, while Carnacross (3 beds), about two miles from the town, is available from £120 a week in September. Another house, four miles away, Heather Lodge at Barnalyra, (4 beds) is available at £180 a week in September.

. AT NIGHT:

There's the pubs, and there is no shortage of them. Most have traditional music, particularly at the weekends. Worth a visit are: Greaney's on the Square; another of the oldest pubs in Ireland, Melletts Drinking Emporium on Market Street; Devaney's on Main Street, it has traditional music on Mondays; Pat Campbell's on Main Street; Boland's on Bridge Street, and Moore's, Corcoran's, The White House, Kitty OHagans, George McDermott's, and The Hagen Lounge on the Square. You won't be thirsty in Swinford.

. WHERE TO BUY:

Two shops on Main Street, Tower Gift Shop and Cards and Gifts offer a wide range of souvenirs and quality craft work. There is also Discount Two on Market Street, which sells Knock Pottery.

. OTHER THINGS OF INTEREST IN THE AREA:

The famous Knock International airport is just four miles away, and is well worth a look, if only for the view and the wonder of it all. Then there's the Sheridan Museum at Bohola, which commemorates Martin Sheridan, a native son who can still claim to be Ireland's greatest athlete ever, despite Michelle Smith. He won five Olympic golds in all, admittedly not at the one games.

. HOW TO GET THERE:

The N5 from Dublin to Castlebar by passes Swinford, and the N57 goes through the town to Ballina. Knock International Airport is four miles away.