'The Field' village in chaos following flood
The village immortalised in the film 'The Field' was thrown into chaos tonight as a flash flood washed away its century-old bridge.
As Ireland continues to endure the wettest summer of recent years, torrential rain swelled waters below the stone bridge in the centre of Leenane, Co Galway, sweeping away two supporting arches.
The village that became a film set for director Jim Sheridan in 1989 is known as the gateway to the Connemara area, but the closure of the bridge has meant locals must endure 50-mile detours around its rural roads.
No one was injured when the bridge arches began to collapse at 5pm, but plans are being quickly drafted for a temporary crossing.
Villagers are meanwhile recounting the dramatic scenes that followed a day of heavy rain.
"It was a ferocious flood," said Peter Mantle who rents cottages at Delphi lodge outside the village and who saw footage of the flood captured on a mobile phone.
"My wife only crossed the bridge 10 minutes before," he said.
"The scene is chaotic now. The only alternative route is to drive to Westport 50 miles or more away."
Maura Coyne who works in Hamiltons bar in the centre of the village said its owner Tony Hamilton cannot reach his own pub after being stranded on the wrong side of the Leenane river.
"There was torrential rain and the bridge just started to collapse underneath," said the 18-year-old bar worker, recounting how villagers watched the river swell.
"It was very frightening at the time."
The movie 'The Field', starring Richard Harris as the Bull McCabe, was shot almost entirely in Leenane, a one street village overshadowed by the misty mountains of Connemara.
