About midway between Galway City and Athlone, just off the M6 motorway, lies this interesting little museum, dedicated to a battle between two kings that took place here in 1691. When James II became king of England in 1685, his days on the throne were already numbered. He had a “flaw” that the Protestant establishment simply couldn’t live with: He was a convert to Catholicism. In 1688, James was deposed by Parliament, in favor of his own son-in-law—the Protestant William III. Retreating to Ireland, James led a rebellion that was to have far-reaching consequences for Irish history. Aughrim wasn’t the most famous nor arguably the most important battle of that war, but it was the last. With the defeat of the so-called Jacobite forces loyal to James, the prospect of a Catholic Ireland was crushed for almost two and a half centuries. The center does a competent job of telling the story through displays and exhibits, plus the obligatory visitor-center film.