• All bed rooms ensuite &have T.V's
• Tea and coffee served on
• Packed lunches if required
• Private car park
• Guest lounge with T.V
• Dining Room
• Freezer Facilities
• Evening meals

Welcome to Knockmore, encompassing the Parish of Backs, set in the heart of Mayo. Situated 10km south of the Town of Ballina and 40km North West of Mayo's County town, Castlebar, Knockmore boasts some of the county's most beautiful and unspoilt scenery. With the river Moy, renowned for it's fresh water salmon, bordering the parish to the east and Lough Conn, with it's clear mystical waters, repeling the parish to the west, delights a plenty await the welcomed traveller or tourist.

How to Get Here?

Knockmore and it's surroundings are easily accessed by road. Simply follow directions to the Town of Ballina, and from there Knockmore is situated on the southern outskirts of the town. However, you can also travel to Knockmore by public transport from virtually any location around Ireland. If you wish to see further information on such travel please follow the links below to Bus Eireann(Ireland's Bus Network) or Iarnrod Eireann(Ireland's Train Network). Both of these sites detail services and timetables for travelling to the West of Ireland.

Short History of the Parish

The ancient name of the parish of Backs comes from the Irish An Dabhac - the Two Backs, the word Bac, meaning an irregular or angular strip of land. Da meaning Two comes from the fact that during the medieval period and until the penal times were two parishes here, Kilbelfad and Ballinahaglish.

The Kilbelfad Church ruins are still to be seen in Cloghans cemetery and the Ballinahaglish Church ruins can be seen in the graveyard of the same name. These Churches date from around 1400 possibly on the site of earlier churches. A church existed later at the end of the penal times (Late 1700's) on the site of McLoughlin's stabling in Rathduff and another in Shanclough, Knockmore.

The present Rathduff Church was built in 1842 and renovated in the 1930's and extended. Knockmore Church was built in the 1860's and rebuilt in 1998.

More indepth History of the Parish and surroundings

It appears that in ancient times the name covered a more extensive district so as to include the parishes of Ardagh, Kilmoremoy West of the Moy and part of Ballysokeery. This extended territory is referred to in some records as The Great Bac, but in course of time the name “An Da Bhac” that is “The Two Backs” came to be restricted to the area now comprised in the Parish of Backs.

The two Backs were known respectively as Beal Bhac and Cuil Bhac but in some records are referred to as East Bac and West Bac. Beal Bhac extended Southwards by the River Moy from the Rehins rivulet to the short river discharging the surplus waters of Lough Cullin into the Moy some distance South of Foxford and was roughly co-extensive with the civil and official Parish of Ballinahaghlish. Cuil Bhac extended southwards along Lough Conn from the mouth of the River Deel as far as the present Pontoon Bridge and roughly corresponded with the present civil and official parish of Kilbefad.

The term “Cuil Bhac” in the corrupted form “Cuil Backs” survived as a place name among some of the older parishioners down to very recent times. The two Bacs were separated by Derrymoneen Lake, Lough Alick, and extensive tracts of bog and marsh, stretching Northwards from Runagry on the southern shore of Lough Conn to Tullysleva and on by Farrendeelin to the present Ballina urban boundary. In ancient times the surface levels of lakes Derrymannin and Alick were much higher than at present so that the former lake overflowed to meet the waters of Lough Alick, thereby creating an almost impassable morass between Friarstown and Cloghans on the one side and Coolcran and Derrygullinane on the other and thus isolating the two latter townlands from the rest of Cuil Bhac.

Owing to rising ground on either side this morass, for a short distance, narrowed to an ordinary river course at a point directly opposite Cloghans Castle and there a short ford gave access to Coolcran. Further North near Lough Alick was another but more important ford extending forma a point near the Cloghans burial ground, on by Derrygullinane and over another tract of bog to Derrynamuch in Beal Bhac.

The present roadway includes parts of this old ford. Evidently this was the Ath Fada or Long Ford vainly sought for by investigators of the past, as being somewhere in Lough Conn. On the Cloghans side, the approach or entrance to this ford including the adjacent lands was called Beal Atha Fada – in English “Mouth of the Long Ford”.

Following the introduction of Christianity, a church was founded here and naturally, it was called the Cill or Church of Beal Atha Fada. A small parish developed around it and bore the same name as the church. By the year 1306, the churches of Illaunnaglashy and Inishlee had been abandoned and the small parish of Kil Beil Atha Fada (Kilbelfad) had been expanded so as to include the whole of Cuil Bhac.

The hereditary chieftains of the Two Bacs and Glen Nephin ( a territory corresponding roughly with the parish of Addergoole) was of the O’Lachtna family. This family was descended from an ancestor named Lachtna (diminutive of Lachta, gray), and the name is now anglicized as Lughnane but sometimes as Loftus.

The O’Lachtnas were a very important and influential family and gave bishops to various dioceses in Connaught during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It was through its association with this family that the Abbey of Errew attained its greatness as a religious centre and became the leading ecclesiastical establishment in South Tirawley. O’Lachtna, chief of the Two Bacs and Glen Nephin was a superior chieftain and ranked next in importance to the king of North Connaught who had two royal forts on Lough Conn, one at Inniscoe and the other on Annagh Island.

The following entries, concerning the chief of the Two Bacs and Glen Nephin, are recorded in the Annals:

• A.D. 1180: Murrough O’Lachtna was drowned in Lough Conn.

• A.D. 1217: Cathal Finn O’Lachna, chief of the Two Bacs, was treacherously slain in his own house by O’Flynn of Moyhelog.

• A.D. 1251: Flann O’Lachtnain, chief of the Two Bacs died. This Flann was the last of his race who could be called chieftain.

If you are interested in gathering further information on the history of Knockmore, why not send us an e-mail.

Bernie and Noel canavan
Knockmore,
Ballina
Co.Mayo
Tel:(094)9258240
Fax:(094)9258240