Protected status for Quiet Man cottage

The Quiet Man Cottage in Connemara is on course to be added to the list of protected structures.

The cottage at Maam, made famous by The Quiet Man film which starred John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, will be one of about seven or eight buildings in County Galway that are proposed to be added to the record of protected structures.

The list will be published later this April, and will go on public display for six weeks in which time members of the public can make submissions and observations.

After the public consultation period is up, the decision for it to be added to the protected structure lists will be made at a full meeting of Galway County Council and will be voted on by elected members.

Several statutory bodies will have to be informed of the list and so will the relevant Government Minister. A Council spokesperson confirmed that they are aiming to have the list brought before the July meeting.

Last October, County Councillors Seán Ó Tuairisg (FF) and Tom Healy (SF) submitted a motion, that was unanimously passed, calling for the remains of the cottage to be included as a protected structure.

Cllr Ó Tuairisg said he is pleased that the County Council is now bringing forward a list of buildings to be included in the protected structures list. Once it is published the building will enjoy a level of protection similar to if it has been granted protected structure status.

He said the delay in bringing forward the list was because the County Council’s planning department were flat out trying to finalise the County Development Plan over the past few months.

An Architectural Heritage Appraisal was carried out on the ruin and the surrounding site following an international campaign to have the cottage restored. The cottage, located in Tiernakill South near Maam, is owned by Canadian Gregory Ebbitt, and has gradually fallen into a ruin since he bought it in the 1980s.

An international campaign by White O’Morn members from around the world (mostly in North America) want it restored to its former glory.

Cllr Ó Tuairisg says there is a tree growing in the middle of it and stones are being taken from it by tourists, which he says adds to its disrepair. Cllr Ó Tuairisg says the Quiet Man Bridge nearby will also be included in the protected structure list.

Patrick McCormack, a member of the White O’Morn campaign and now living in Toronto, Canada, said he wanted to add the cottage to the Record of Protected Structures to ensure it is not demolished.

“This is about ensuring that the cottage doesn’t fall into further ruin. It is about protecting the cottage and though adding the cottage and the site to the RPS wouldn’t be the final solution, it would be an important and tangible first step forward. In fact doing this would be the first positive and substantive step in more than 60 years,” he said.

The campaign to date has over 8,500 signatures. The list will be published on April 24.