{"id":4615,"date":"2026-10-05T15:27:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tocharwetlands.ie\/?p=4615"},"modified":"2026-10-05T15:28:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:28:01","slug":"three-generations-of-caring-in-cloontuskert-roscommon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tocharwetlands.ie\/ga\/community-stories\/three-generations-of-caring-in-cloontuskert-roscommon\/","title":{"rendered":"Three generations of caring in Cloontuskert, Roscommon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Helen Shaw T\u00f3char Stories<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very special place to live\u201d, Margaret O\u2019Neill tells me when we chat. \u201cI hope it never loses that, you know, the friendliness, the neighbourly feeling of people helping each other out, I hope it never loses that.\u201d  We are in the community orchard and gardens in Cloontuskert, a small village close to the River Shannon in County Roscommon. Lanesborough, across the Shannon in County Longford is just minutes away. There are ripe apple and plum trees behind us and a polytunnel promises tomatoes, spinach, scallions and lettuce.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WATCH:<\/strong>  Three Generations of O\u2019Neills in Cloontuskert <\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three
Photo: Ann Breslin (O\u2019Neill, Elizabeth\u2019s daughter), Elizabeth O\u2019Neill and Margaret O\u2019Neill, her daughter-in-law at the former Bord na M\u00f3na railway line on the bog (Annie Holland) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Margaret moved here in the late 1980s, to this horse-shoe of houses in a picturesque Bord na M\u00f3na workers estate, when she married local man, James O\u2019Neill.  James, like Margaret\u2019s own father, worked for Bord na M\u00f3na. His parents Tommy and Elizabeth O\u2019Neill were amongst the first residents in the Cloontuskert estate when they moved, in the 1950s, from Wexford. Tommy answered a Bord na M\u00f3na advert in the Sunday Independent promising not just a job – but a home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Photo: The Bord na M\u00f3na advert displayed on the walls at Cloontuskert to honour the history of the place (Helen Shaw) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cHe answered the advertisement just saying there was a job, house, everything going, for a job with Bord na M\u00f3na, working with the turf. Yeah, he was delighted. We didn’t know whether we’d like the place or not at first, but when we came here, we did like it. Because there was a range in the house, and the turf, we had plenty\u201d, Elizabeth remembers. She is 90 next birthday but still active in everything to do with the community.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Offical
Offical Blessing of Cloontuskert with Todd Andrews CEO of Bord na M\u00f3na in archway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

There\u2019s\u00a0a remarkable photo of the blessing of the Cloontuskert workers estate in 1953 with S.C. (Todd) Andrews standing in the archway.\u00a0Seven workers estates were designed by architect Frank Gibney<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0\u00a0Kilcormac\u00a0(Offaly)\u00a0Bracknagh\u00a0(Offaly)\u00a0Rochfortbridge\u00a0(Westmeath) Lanesborough (Longford)\u00a0Derraghan\u00a0(Longford)\u00a0\u00a0Timahoe\u00a0(Kildare) – with Cloontuskert the only one in Roscommon. The houses were designed to burn turf as the energy source for heating and cooking and had community facilities within the estates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Arial
Photo: The newly built Cloontuskert Bord na M\u00f3na workers estate circa 1952<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s great heritage behind it all\u201d says Margaret. \u201cWith all the people that came from all over, from different counties, and settled here\u201d. Margaret and her late husband James were dedicated volunteers in the village – particularly through Tidy Towns. Margaret, and Elizabeth are still actively involved and Margaret\u2019s daughter Shauna O\u2019Neill carries on the tradition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Shauna
Photo: Shauna and her grandmother Elizabeth O\u2019Neill at the abandoned turf machinery on the bog (Annie Holland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 Shauna is Chair of Cloontuskert Development and Tidy Towns Association and it has been instrumental in taking care of the village, its Bord na M\u00f3na legacy, history and built heritage, and enabling the  community to adapt to changing times. \u201cCloontuskert is actually one of the longest standing entrants in the Tidy Towns competition nationwide. Our first entry was in 1960\u201d, Shauna says.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Large
Photo: Cloontuskert Bord na M\u00f3na history on the community walls( Helen Shaw) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cloontuskert\u2019s identity and sense of place is rooted in Bord na M\u00f3na and the bog that surrounds it. Just beyond the houses is a trackway to a bog where there is still abandoned Bord na M\u00f3na machinery and the old tea room for workers. Shauna, who is a physics and maths secondary school teacher in Roscommon CBS, spent her summers working there. \u201cI did 5 summers with Bord na M\u00f3na and loved every single second of it\u201d, she says. She was studying nanoscience at Trinity College Dublin so days on the bog were a great release from academia.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Woman
Photo: Shauna O\u2019Neill at the old Bord na M\u00f3na machinery (Annie Holland) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, with the formal cessation of industrial turf extraction, Shauna and the Tidy Towns group applied for the Reimagine Placemaking project with the Irish Architecture Foundation. They met 12th Field architects David Jameson and Evelyn D\u2019Arcy who were interested in the Frank Gibney legacy. But the stories of the peatland communities and the massive cultural, economic and social transition they were facing captivated the two architects and eventually led to the creation of Bog Bothy – a space to reimagine our relationship with the bog. \u201cThe Bog Bothy came from this idea of bringing people back into a landscape that they now felt disconnected from, \u201c Evelyn explains. \u201cIt is very much a neutral space for people to spend time in and to just generally talk through the process of, of that huge transition from workplace into what will become a new type of landscape to exist in.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WATCH:<\/strong> The Story of Bog Bothy with David Jameson and Evelyn D\u2019Arcy<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By mid August this year 12th Field and Cloontuskert Tidy Towns completed the circle that began in 2021 when Bog Bothy was installed in the common gardens behind the estate. The bright yellow and blue wooden hut completed its summer 2026 tour in Cloontuskert with the community that had inspired it. For Shauna it underscores the importance of listening to people on the ground and their ideas for the future. \u201cI think to include people in the decision-making is really, really important. There is a huge appreciation locally of the need for the rewetting and all that goes along with that, but people should definitely still be at the centre in the same way that they were at the centre of the many decades of work and family life that led to this entire story, which is a big national story. So it is just magnificent to see the Bog Bothy come home to Cloontuskert\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Group
Photo: Shauna O\u2019Neill with her grandmother Elizabeth, Aunty Ann and mother Margaret at Bog Bothy for a T\u00f3char Wetlands Restoration workshop in fens. Shirley Clerkin, Project Manager T\u00f3char is background chatting with Oliver Harney from Cornafulla Micro Reserve where the Bog Bothy was during July (Annie Holland). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Cloontuskert, like all the Gibney estates, was cutting edge innovation in its day in designing homes that could be fuelled by turf today that needs reimagining. Shauna and another Cloontuskert native, architect Tracey Connaughton, have led in retrofitting many of the homes to sustainable energy in partnership with Bord na M\u00f3na and SEAI. \u201cIt is definitely an awful lot easier. It means now that we don’t have to save turf anymore. You have hot water, just turn the tap, you have hot water straight away,\u201d says Margaret \u201cso it\u2019s the way to go into the future\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bog Bothy closes its shutters on September 27th in Cloontuskert after a busy schedule of events involving talks, workshops, music, walks and even yoga. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely brilliant\u201d, Elizabeth. For Shauna it has been a chance to consolidate the community, connect with neighbouring villages and look to the future. They would like a boardwalk allowing more public access in the rewetted bog so people could enjoy the nature that is returning to the once industrial landscape. And if they want a permanent bog bothy – they do not have to look far as the original workers’ tea hut remains on the land.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three
Photo: The caring hands of three generations, Shauna, Elizabeth and Ann (Annie Holland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Helen Shaw T\u00f3char Stories \u201cIt\u2019s a very, very special place to live\u201d, Margaret O\u2019Neill tells me when we chat. \u201cI 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