Céide Fields — Attraction in County Mayo

Céide Fields Visitor Centre

Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland

The Céide Fields in North Mayo will certainly give you a unique experience. For this is not just another archaeological monument or visitor centre. Here you can indulge yourself in a vast prehistoric landscape, a natural wild ecology of blanket bog, dramatic cliffs and coastline, and a much acclaimed building, which has received Ireland's most prestigious architectural award.

The Céide Fields are the oldest known field systems in the world, over five and a half millennia old. It is a unique Neolithic landscape of world importance, which has changed our perception of our Stone Age ancestors. The remains of stone field walls, houses and megalithic tombs are preserved beneath a blanket of peat over several square miles. They tell a story of the everyday lives of a farming people, their organized society, their highly developed spiritual beliefs, and their struggle against a changing environment beyond their control.

Visit the multi-award winning Centre, which has exhibitions, audio-visual show and tearooms and take a guided tour with our professional guides and discover a buried wall for yourself using a centuries old method of probing. Experience the unique ecology of the bogland, with it's colourful mosses, sedges, lichens, heathers, flowers and insect-eating sundews while listening to the larks. Find out the fascinating story of an ever-changing landscape, such as why bogs grow and the huge influence a subtle change in climate can bring about.

The Céide Fields Visitor Centre is one of over 60 Heritage Sites run by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in Ireland. Heritage Cards are available which give unlimited free admission to all OPW sites for one year from the date of purchase.

Facilities

Displays and exhibitions in English and Irish with written translations available in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish and SpanishA 20 minute long audio-visual showGuided walking tours of the site lasting between 45 - 60 minutes. As the tour is outdoors on uneven and sometimes wet terrain visitors are advised to wear weather protective clothing and appropriate footwearTearoom providing home made cakes, scones, soup, sandwiches etc.

Opening Times

Open Easter to October 29thDaily 10am - 6pm June to SeptDaily 10am - 5pm Other months

Available for bookings in winter months.

Admission Charges

Adult: euro4.00Group / Senior: euro3.00Child / Student:...

I arrived at 16.20 - the site closes at 18.00 at this time of year (August) - to be told it was a pity I had just missed a guided tour. When I asked when the next one was I was told there wasn't one. When I asked what times the tours were at - as the website says this is a site with guided tours - I was told they don't list times as they don't know what time people are going to arrive! (My thinking is if you list a time for a tour people will aim to arrive in time for the tour). I got the distinct impression the guide - the person I was talking to as I later deduced - couldn't be bothered doing a tour with just one person (though more people arrived after me and we could have made up a small group) as she sat at the reception desk for most of the time I was there chatting with colleagues. I was told to just do a "self-guided" tour and I would get enough information. I found the information on the exterior postings simplistic, giving just a minimum amount of information (the interior postings are far better), and had many questions about different aspects of the site that a guide would have been able to answer. I drove a long way to visit this site having heard great things about how interesting it was however I left extremely disappointed by the attitude of the staff and their lack of interest in wanting to share their expertise with visitors. If they had said we don't do guided tours after a particular time - and that time is stated and official - I could have understood, but the timing of the tours seems to be at the discretion of the guide/guides, not on accommodating...

Probably only very exciting to people who really love archeology but it is a very impressive place and set in a spectacular location. The North Mayo cliffs are one of the most impressive regions of Ireland.

The fields are under the care of the OPW and there is a visitor centre with plenty of information available to a visitor.

What is particularly important here is that the field system that was found here dates to about five and a half thousand years ago, roughly the same time as the Upanishads, and the style of the fielding only started developing in the res of Europe about two and a half thousand years later.

Alongside the fields there is also evidence of housing and even burials at the site. Over the centuries these have all been submerged under a blanket bog so they were not removed or destroyed by later farmers. This is often the case where subsequent populations destroy the history of the places their ancestors once dwelt. The Georgians were great at annihilating everything to replace it with their unimaginative love of red brick. Thankfully the Georgian vandals never bothered much with remote areas of rural land so places like Ceide...