Irish Road Bowling
The Litchfield County Irish American Club held their third road bowling tournament on Saturday, 20 July 2024 in support of charity. The kick-off seemed to have been shortly after 11:00 AM or so. With 64 teams registering, a record amount, and staggered start times, they were still tossing off long after I had left for the day.
“Irish road bowling is a sport dating back to the 16th century in the counties of Cork and Armagh. It’s a combination of bowling and golf where a 28-ounce cannon ball is thrown underhanded over the course of a country lane. The team with the least number of bowls at the end of the course wins!”
In Ireland, it seems this sport is well attended with spectators standing all around the competitors, and placing wagers and such. I wasn’t sure how that atmosphere would translate over here, but their invitation to watch from last year seemed inviting enough.
“Anyone wanting to see what it’s all about can join us at The Abbey Restaurant! Guaranteed lots of craic!”
I chose to walk backwards along the bowling route and see a number of teams pass by and learn how the sport was played. Along the way I was able to talk to a few other spectators and get a feel for their club and community. They are a lively bunch to be sure.
The teams I saw go by were unsure how previous years winners threw the course in under 20 tosses [substantially under, maybe 13, I’ll try to find the record].
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I had brought some nice gear to document the action; two Nikon DSLRs, a GoPro and, of course, my phone had a camera.
1) The cameras went from two extreme environments: an air-conditioned car to high humidity outside. That caused internal fogging behind the lenses that takes time to dissipate.
2) The Nikon D500 doesn’t have a ‘dummy’ or ‘auto’ feature and I had all the settings wrong for action photography.
3) I forgot to disable the time stamp on the other camera.
4) Some pictures are screenshots from video.
5) I'm just not that good at it!
Anyway, here are a few people tossing the bullet [a 28 oz. - 7” steel cannonball]…
…and a few more chasing it.
Other sights to behold along the walk…
Conclusion of the Irish Road Bowling Tournament
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Conclusion of the Irish Road Bowling Tournament <>
A map of the bowling route and locations of potential ‘after party’ venues. I chose Housatonic River Brewing.
I don’t get down to New Milford very often so after watching the tournament I was hoping to stop by the Candlewood Brewery, but learned that it is permanently closed. The Abby has an ‘Irish American’ themed décor and food on the menu, and a lot of players stayed and mingled there after.
I didn’t stay long after my walk and went over to Housatonic River Brewing for a quick round before heading back home. The pictures and review of that stop was also put in it’s own post, same day. I had been there before a few times, and was originally going to try a ‘new’ brewery, Candlewood, but it was already out of business after a short run. I find it interesting to note that the Candlewood Brewery was in the same space as Bad Dream Brewing, which also closed. I guess it all comes down to location in that it was a small venue inside a ‘strip-mall.’ The guys over on CTMQ have a good write-up about it and the state of Connecticut Brewing in general, the link to that article is here.
“Talk about a Bad Dream. Candlewood Brewing was one of the shortest-lived Connecticut breweries of the 21st century. It opened in late January 2021 and hung it up in early July 2022; about 16 months.”
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