New tour allows Shane MacGowan fans to visit places in Tipperary special to Pogues frontman
(Left to right) Carmel Ormond (Tourism Officer Destination Lough Derg), Shane MacGowan's widow Victoria Mary Clarke and his sister Siobhan MacGowan at the launch of the Shane MacGowgan tour. Photo: Coolbawn Cross Photography
Fans of Shane MacGowan have been flocking to Tipperary since the singer's death to pay tribute to the former Pogues frontman and visit first-hand the areas that inspired him and his music.
And now, a new tour of the area, Unravelling - The Shane MacGowgan tour will allow those fans to pinpoint exactly his roots.
His sister Siobhan MacGowan said his passion for the Tipperary’s countryside where he grew up as a child “influenced everything he would go on to do and write”.
She made the comments following the unveiling of the new tour with Shane's widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, in conjunction with Tipperary County Council.
The Pogues frontman died on November 30, 2023, following a long illness. His funeral was celebrated in his late mother Therese’s hometown of Nenagh where he spent much of his youth with his sister.
The new tour, covering 11 different locations around the shores of Lough Derg, is a celebration of all the places in the country that were “dear and special to Shane”.
A brochure featuring rare family photos, Shane’s childhood sketches and snippets of notes never seen before, as well as a map outlining why each place is special, has also been produced and can be downloaded by fans.
The trail includes stops in Carney, Kilbarron, Nenagh, Borrisokane, and along the Shannon, as well as smaller villages and boreens that featured in his early years.
It also includes Kennedy's pub in Puckaun, where The Pogues played a now infamous Twelfth Night 1986 gig with Shane’s family taking to the stage.
Also on the trail is Johnny Ryan’s, the long-standing traditional rural pub frequented by some of Shane’s grand-uncles, and where mourners gathered on the night of Shane's passing.
The trail is part is a three-phase project with the second phase introducing an interactive digital element with the soundtrack of lyrics which mention the places featured on the map and plaques erected with the lyrics at those sites.
Siobhan MacGowan told the : “Shane's passion for the Tipperary byways and fields we walked as children, the blue mountains of the Shannon, the old peoples' stories in the local town and villages never faded.
“Those days formed him and influenced everything he would go on to do and write.
She said it is “impossible to overestimate the effect that Tipperary had in shaping Shane.”
Shane MacGowan never made any secret of his love affair with Nenagh – and his sister said it was the place “he felt both the most longing for and most belonging to.”
“The places on this trail were ingrained in his psyche and remained at his heart’s core for all of his life. Literally his heart’s song, and at the heart of so many he would go on to sing.”
The downloadable brochure allows people to follow the tour – which is now open - at their own pace.
