Local group keen to restore Quiet Man cottage to its former glory
By Mary O’connor
A local group is appealing to the Galway County Council to put a preservation order on a house made famous by a 1951 blockbuster.
The “Quiet Man” cottage near Maam where John Wayne wooed Maureen O’Hara is in need of major restoration, according to the group of which Senator Fidelma Healy Eames is a member.
She says the organisation is eager to acquire the cottage - which provided the main location for the John Forde film - for the Irish State.
In a letter to the conservation office of Galway County Council the senator said the group led by Mike Ward has been working behind the scenes for some time to acquire the thatched cottage.
She outlined that both she and Minister Jimmy Deenihan made several efforts to contact the American owner of the house, Gregory Ebbitt, to no avail.
“In the meantime the cottage is falling apart,” she writes. “In fact it appears to be almost 75 per cent gone. There are many things we have to do to restore the Quiet Man cottage to its former glory. However, a preservation order is something practical that we can do in the short term.”
She stated she would be delighted if the Galway County Council would initiate the process to put a preservation order on the famous cottage.
