Fuaim na Saoirse: Harp and Uilleann Pipes at Corlea Trackway

What to Expect

Fuaim na Saoirse, the Sound of Freedom, closes the Eigse Lughnasadh programme at Corlea Trackway on the final Sunday of National Heritage Week. It is a straight instrumental recital built around two instruments that came close to disappearing from Irish life and did not: the harp and the uilleann pipes. Local musicians play both, and the two-hour slot allows for a proper set rather than a short demonstration.

The concert follows on from a talk earlier the same afternoon in which guide Noel Carberry traces the survival story of both instruments through visual material, so the two events work as a pair for anyone who wants the history before the music. Between them there is an Irish Sign Language tour of the trackway at 3:00 PM. Corlea’s exhibition hall holds an 18 metre stretch of Iron Age oak roadway felled in 148 BC, kept indoors under controlled humidity, and the recital takes place with that as the backdrop.

Good to Know

• Sunday 23 August 2026, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
• Corlea Trackway Visitor Centre, Keenagh, Co. Longford, N39 XT18.
• Booking is required. Email corlea@opw.ie or phone 043 332 2386, daily 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
• Admission was listed as to be confirmed. General entry to Corlea Trackway is free for the 2026 season.
• Same day at Corlea: a bog walk and talk at 12:00 PM, the uilleann pipes and harp talk at 2:00 PM, and an Irish Sign Language tour at 3:00 PM.
• The final event in the Eigse Lughnasadh and Heritage at Risk series, which runs at Corlea from 15 to 23 August 2026.
• Picnic areas, accessible toilets and free parking on site.

Getting There

Corlea Trackway sits on the bog west of Keenagh village, roughly 15 kilometres south of Longford town. Drivers coming from Longford should take the R397 or R392 towards Keenagh and then follow the brown heritage signs. From Ballymahon it is a short run north on the R392. From Athlone, head north on the N55 and cut across at Ballymahon.

Parking is free and there is plenty of it, which matters on a Heritage Week Sunday when several events run back to back. There is no scheduled bus service to the trackway itself, so a car or a Local Link booking is the practical option. Allow about 20 minutes from Longford town and around 35 minutes from Athlone.