Lough Mask

6mi/10km south of Ballinrobe, on a by-road running towards the east side of Lough Mask, is Lough Mask House, surrounded by its park. In the last quarter of the 19th C. this was the residence of Captain Charles Boycott (1832-97), the agent of an English landlord, who treated his Irish tenants so badly that on a certain day in the year 1880 they resolved to have nothing more to do with him or to sell him their produce. Workers had thereupon to be brought in from the northern counties to gather in the potato harvest, under military protection, so that the crop was quite unprofitable. This form of passive resistance compelled Boycott to retreat to England, having given a new word to the language.

In the limestone rock of the Lough Mask area are numerous caves. Pigeon Hole is among the most interesting of the caves. Like Kelly's Cave, it is easily accessible.