Village · Co. Mayo
“Saint Feichin’s narrows” — the village on an island of streams between Loughs Corrib and Mask, with the underground water that connects the two loughs and the old episcopal see of Cunga Féichin.
Cong (Conga in Irish, from Cúnga Fheichín meaning “Saint Feichin’s narrows”) is a village in County Mayo, Ireland, straddling the border with County Galway. The village is part of a civil parish of the same name. It sits on an island formed by a number of streams that surround it on all sides, on the isthmus connecting Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, near the towns of Headford and Ballinrobe and the villages of Clonbur, the Neale and Cross.
Cong is known for its underground streams that connect Lough Corrib with Lough Mask to the north. The village is on the isthmus between the two loughs, and the water runs through it and under it: the streams that form the island, the underground streams that carry the water between the loughs, and the loughs themselves on either side. The walk through Cong is the walk across the isthmus and along the streams, and the light on the water is best in the evening.
The 1111 Synod of Ráth Breasail included Cong (Cunga Féichin) among the five dioceses it approved for Connacht, but in 1152 the Synod of Kells excluded it from its list and assigned what would be its territory to the archdiocese of Tuam. No longer a residential bishopric, Cunga Féichin is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Cong was also the home of Anglo-Norman settlements — the town’s history is the history of the isthmus, and the church in the village is the older building of the place.
Cong is on the isthmus between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, a short drive from Ballinrobe and Headford; the streams and the loughs are in and around the village. The village works as the base for the two loughs and the Connemara country beyond — the walk in the morning, the lough in the afternoon.
Where to stay
Cong puts the streams, the loughs and the Connemara country all within a short drive — the isthmus is the point.
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