BSW3 5. Field of dreams

Speakers: John McGroary and Patsy McNultyFrom the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist. A hallowed place It is a good 5 km from the Bluestack Centre to the Tymeen Football field which you’ll see on your left. Surrounded by an uneven boggy surface in all directions, this verdant patch is all the more striking – ask the folk in the Bluestack Centre when the next game is on and perhaps you could coincide your walk with part of a game there. Having turned left at the pitch, some 15m along the road, you’ll be turning right into a laneway. 400m down the lane, you will find an old lime kiln on your left. Continue up the lane, following the Bluestack Way signs through a number of gates – please ensure you close them after you pass by. Note the abundance of wild fuchsia. The lane continues for another 1.3km until you reach the sign for Disert Graveyard on your left.  Disert is a townland situated at the foot of Carnaween, one of the Bluestacks most iconic mountains. There are many versions of the meaning in Irish of Carnaween - Seoirse's version has it as Place of the Birds for example. Carn is translated in English as ‘heap of stones’ and Buion means a gathering of people. So Carn a Bhuion may be taken to mean a meeting place for a gathering of people. It has been a custom of hundreds of years for people to gather and climb Carnaween every year on the first Sunday of June – maybe dating back to Celtic Ireland when people met to make laws, settle disputes and have sporting events such as the Tailtean Games.  Our audio piece gets both John and Patsy's description of this hallowed turf.