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CAVAN TOWN |
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CAVAN town grew up around an abbey, but nothing remains of this
beyond its memory and an eighteenth-century tower beside the burial
place of Owen Roe O'Neill. The town is quite subdued, with only two main
streets: Main Street is the principal artery of shops and bars, while
Farnham Street has an older character with some very nice stone Georgian
houses, a Classical courthouse of warm sandstone and a huge Catholic
cathedral, built in the 1940s, that surprisingly succeeds in confirming
status and a sense of place without being overbearing.
The tourist office on Farnham Street (April-Sept Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat
9am-1pm; tel 049/433 1942) will offer information on the county in
general; there's little to see in the town itself. The Lifeforce Mill,
Mill Road, a renovated nineteenth-century flour mill (May-Sept; tel
049/436 2722), is only open to groups, and building work at Cavan
Crystal, Dublin Road, means that tours are unlikely to be available for
some time (tel 049/433 1800). There are a handful of places to stay in
and around the town: B&B is available at Oakdene , 29 Cathedral Rd (tel
049/433 1698; £33-40/¬41.90-50.79), and McCaul's Guesthouse , 10 Bridge
St (tel 049/433 1327; £40-55/¬50.79-69.84), and the welcoming
Lisnamandra Farmhouse , four and a half miles out of Cavan towards
Crossdoney, is good value (tel 049/433 7196; £33-40/¬41.90-50.79). The
Farnham Arms Hotel on Main Street (tel 049/433 2577;
£70-90/¬88.88-114.28) provides pleasant and comfortable accommodation,
and their bar and restaurant is open to non-residents. Eating options in
general are fairly limited, but there are a number of good spots for bar
food , including An Síbín , 86 Town Hall St, the loud and popular
Blackhorse Inn , Main Street, and The Imperial Hotel , which serves
excellent, hearty bar meals. There's no shortage of viable watering
holes: An Cruíscín Lán , 82 Main St, draws a young crowd, as does An
Síbín (DJ on Friday nights); if you are looking for a bar with character
and a mixed crowd, try Louis Blessings on Main Street. For rod hire,
licences and information on fishing , visit Sports World , 11 Town Hall
St (tel 049/433 1812). Cavan is very much the transport centre of the
county, and Bus Éireann (tel 049/433 2533) connects it with all major
towns in the Republic and the North. Wharton's private buses (tel
049/433 7114) also operate a daily service to Dublin, leaving from
outside the Lakeland Hotel .
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