Tuam Herald Saturday, September 05, 1891:

MONIVEA CASTLE AND VILLAGE.

A writer in the "Irish Times" thus describes Monivea Castle and village:—
"I walked on for over three miles to have a look at Monivea Castle and the emerald village of that name. Monivea demesne is very extensive, and the castle is unique in Connaught. Cromwell did not batter it down, though shots were fired at it, and the canon balls are preserved there still. The Lord of Trimblestown lived here prior to the French family. The last of his race is buried in Kilconnel graveyard. It is a very fine old border Castle, and has a keep and turret chamber near the roof. The left wing is the drawingroom and picture gallery. In the old hall are some valuable paintings and relics. A massive oak cabinet, nicely carved, is on the left as we enter from the front lawn through the ancient doorway. A court yard lies at the back of the castle. Hounds and horn were heard there for many years. The old squire was a lover of hunting in my early days. One mile from the castle, as we walk through the broad-armed beech trees in the avenue, lies the village, same length and breadth as Sackville Street, grass plots opposite each other. A pair of ash trees at each end through which you enter the village. A honeyed lime which is like an umbrella stands in the middle of the shrubbery of the "Shrubbery of the Mead"—old name of place. The villagers call it the big tree, and tradition has it that it was planted as a May pole and grew subsequently. The church and parsonage are both very great. The interior of the former has been renovated lately. A memorial window put up at the eastern end  and Mosaic work by Italian workmen, was nearly completed as I visited by birthplace after years of absence. Here in this village the writer was born, and here in this quiet churchyard lie the remains of parents passed into the skies in years that are bygone.