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===Specific historical sites and events=== ====Grace O'Malley's Castle==== [[Carrickkildavnet Castle]] is a 15th-century tower house associated with the O'Malley Clan, who were once a ruling family of Achill. [[Grace O' Malley]], or Granuaile, the most famous of the O'Malleys, was born on [[Clare Island]] around 1530.<ref name="piratequeen">{{cite news |last=Lynch |first=Peter |url= http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160615-the-pirate-queen-of-county-mayo |title=The Pirate Queen of County Mayo |publisher=BBC |date=2016-06-20 |access-date=2017-02-02}}</ref> Her father was the chieftain of the barony of [[Murrisk]]. The O'Malleys were a powerful seafaring family, who traded widely. Grace became a fearless leader and gained fame as a sea captain and pirate. She is reputed to have met [[Queen Elizabeth I]] in 1593. She died around 1603 and is buried in the O'Malley family tomb on Clare Island. ====Achill Mission==== [[File:The Colony, Achill (21330853923).jpg|thumbnail|left|View of the "Colony", prior to 1900]] The Achill Mission, also known as 'the Colony' at [[Dugort]], was founded in 1831 by the Anglican ([[Church of Ireland]]) Rev [[Edward Nangle]]. The mission included schools, cottages, an orphanage, an infirmary and a guesthouse.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dugort, Achill Island 1831β1861|last=Ni Ghiobuin|first=Mealla C|publisher=Irish Academic Press|year=2001|isbn=0716527405|location=Dublin|pages=7β21}}</ref> The Colony gave rise to mixed assessments, particularly during the Great Famine when charges of "[[souperism]]" were leveled against Nangle.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Great Irish Famine: Impact, Ideology and Rebellion|url=https://archive.org/details/greatirishfamine00kine|url-access=limited|last=Kinealy|first=Christine|publisher=Palgrave|year=2002|isbn=9780333677735|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatirishfamine00kine/page/n172 160]β166}}</ref> The provision of food across the Achill Mission schools - which also provided 'scriptural' religious instruction - was particularly controversial.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Byrne|first=Patricia|date=January 2022|title=God's Scourge on a Sinful Nation: The Great Famine from an Achill Mission Perspective|journal=Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society|volume=73|pages=29β30}}</ref> For almost forty years, Nangle edited a newspaper called the ''[[Achill Missionary Herald and Western Witness]]'', which was printed in Achill. He expanded his mission into Mweelin, Kilgeever, West Achill where a school, church, rectory, cottages and a training school were built. Edward's wife, Eliza, suffered poor health in Achill and died in 1852; she is buried with six of the Nangle children on the slopes of Slievemore in North Achill.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/a-controversial-mission-1.1521276|title=A controversial Mission|last=Byrne|first=Patricia|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=25 February 2020|archive-date=28 May 2022|access-date=25 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528014131/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/a-controversial-mission-1.1521276|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1848, at the height of the Great Famine, the Achill Mission published a prospectus seeking to raise funds for the acquisition of significant additional lands from Sir Richard O'Donnell. The document gives an overview, from the Mission's perspective, of its activities in Achill over the previous decade and a half including considerable sectarian unrest.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Byrne |first=Patricia |date=2022 |title=Evangelical Mission Pivots to Landlord in Famine Achill |url=https://www.historyireland.ie |journal=History Ireland |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=28β31 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1851, Edward Nangle confirmed the purchase of the land which made the Achill Mission the largest landowner on the island. The Achill Mission began to decline slowly after Nangle was moved from Achill and it closed in the 1880s. When Edward Nangle died in 1883 there were opposing views on his legacy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theirishstory.com/2013/09/09/weapons-of-his-own-forging-edward-nangle-controversial-in-life-and-in-death/|title=Weapons of his own forging: Edward nangle, Controversial in Life and in Death|last=Byrne|first=Patricia|website=The Irish Story|access-date=10 February 2020|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002023740/http://www.theirishstory.com/2013/09/09/weapons-of-his-own-forging-edward-nangle-controversial-in-life-and-in-death/|url-status=live}}</ref> ====Railway==== In 1894, the Westport β Newport railway line was extended to Achill Sound. The railway station is now a hostel. The train provided a great service to Achill, but it also is said to have fulfilled an ancient prophecy. [[Brian Rua U'Cearbhain|Brian Rua O' Cearbhain]] had prophesied that 'carts on iron wheels' would carry bodies into Achill on their first and last journey. In 1894, the first train on the Achill railway carried the bodies of victims of the Clew Bay Drowning. This tragedy occurred when a boat overturned in Clew Bay, drowning thirty-two young people. They had been going to meet the steamer SS ''Elm''<ref>{{cite web |title=32 Achill People Drowned at Westport Quay |url=https://achilltourism.com/experience-achill/history/clew-bay-drownings-1894/ |website=achilltourism.com |access-date=15 October 2024 |archive-date=20 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240720025050/https://achilltourism.com/experience-achill/history/clew-bay-drownings-1894/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which would take them to Britain for potato picking.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Byrne|first=Patricia|title=The Veiled Woman of Achill|publisher=The Collins Press|year=2012|isbn=9781848891470|location=Cork|pages=6β15}}</ref> The Kirkintilloch Fire in 1937 almost fulfilled the second part of the prophecy when the bodies of ten victims were carried by rail to Achill. While it was not literally the last train, the railway closed just two weeks later. These people had died in a fire in a [[bothy]] in [[Kirkintilloch]]. This term referred to the temporary accommodation provided for those who went to Scotland to pick potatoes, a migratory pattern that had been established in the early nineteenth century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Coughlan|first=Brian|title=Achill Island, tattie hokers in Scotland and the Kirkintilloch tragedy 1937|publisher=Four Courts Press|year=2006|isbn=9781846820038|location=Dublin}}</ref> [[File:Memorial for the victims of the Clew Bay Drowning on 15 June 1894 at Kildavenet Graveyard, Achill Island.jpg|thumb|Memorial for the victims of the Clew Bay Drowning on 15 June 1894 at Kildavenet Graveyard]] ====Kildamhnait==== Kildamhnait on the south-east coast of Achill is named after St. Damhnait, or [[Dymphna]], who founded a church there in the 7th century.<ref>{{cite news |date=17 June 2002 |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.1060876 |title=An Irishman's Diary |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |issn=0791-5144 |location=Dublin |language=en-ie |access-date=8 February 2022}}</ref> There is also a holy well just outside the graveyard. The present church was built in the 1700s and the graveyard contains memorials to the victims of two of Achill's greatest tragedies, the Kirchintilloch Fire (1937) and the Clew Bay Drowning (1894). ====The Monastery==== In 1852, [[John MacHale]], Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, purchased land in [[Bunnacurry]], on which a Franciscan Monastery was established, which, for many years, provided an education for local children. The building of the monastery was marked by a conflict between the Protestants of the mission colony and the workers building the monastery. The dispute is known in the island folklore as the ''Battle of the Stones''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Joyce|first=P.J.|url=https://archive.org/details/forgottenpartofi00joycrich|title=A Forgotten Part of Ireland|year=1910|publisher=none|location=Tuam, Ireland|pages=[https://archive.org/details/forgottenpartofi00joycrich/page/148 148]}}</ref> A monk who lived at the monastery for almost thirty years was Paul Carney. He wrote a biography of James Lynchehaun who was convicted for the 1894 attack on an Englishwoman named Agnes MacDonnell, which left her face disfigured, and the burning of her home, Valley House, Tonatanvally, North Achill. The home was rebuilt and MacDonnell died there in 1923, while Lynchehaun escaped to the US after serving 7 years and successfully resisted extradition but spent his last years in Scotland, where he died. Carney's great-grandniece, Patricia Byrne, wrote her own account of Mrs MacDonnell and Lynchehaun, entitled ''The Veiled Woman of Achill''.<ref>[https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/assault-on-achill-1.515399 "Assault on Achill"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027183556/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/assault-on-achill-1.515399 |date=27 October 2022 }}, irishtimes.com. Accessed 27 October 2022.</ref> Carney also wrote accounts of his lengthy fundraising trips across the U.S. at the start of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Byrne|first=Patricia|year=2009|title=Teller of Tales: An Insight into the Life and Times of Brother Paul Carney (1844β1928), Travelling 'Quester' and Chronicler of the Life of James Lynchehaun, nineteenth-century Achill Criminal.|url=https://tbreen.home.xs4all.nl/Journals/Galway.html|journal=Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society|volume=61|pages=156β169|access-date=9 March 2020|archive-date=21 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121204240/https://tbreen.home.xs4all.nl/Journals/Galway.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ruins of this monastery are still to be seen in Bunnacurry today. ====Valley House==== The historic Valley House is located in [[TΓ³in an tSeanbhaile|Tonatanvally]], "The Valley", near [[Dugort]], in the northeast of Achill Island. The present building sits on the site of a hunting lodge built by the Earl of Cavan in the 19th century. Its notoriety arises from an incident in 1894 in which the then owner, an Englishwoman, Mrs Agnes McDonnell, was savagely beaten and the house set alight by a local man, James Lynchehaun. Lynchehaun had been employed by McDonnell as her land agent, but the two fell out and he was sacked and told to quit his accommodation on her estate. A lengthy legal battle ensued, with Lynchehaun refusing to leave. At the time, in the 1890s, the issue of land ownership in Ireland was politically charged. After the events at the Valley House in 1895, Lynchehaun would falsely claim his actions were carried out on behalf of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and motivated by politics. He escaped from custody after serving seven years<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theirishstory.com/2011/01/05/today-in-irish-history-caught-fugitive-criminal-lynchehaun-arrested-5-january-1895/|title=Today In Irish History β Caught! Fugitive Criminal Lynchehaun Arrested, 5 January 1895|last=Byrne|first=Patricia|access-date=10 February 2020|archive-date=24 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224220517/https://www.theirishstory.com/2011/01/05/today-in-irish-history-caught-fugitive-criminal-lynchehaun-arrested-5-january-1895/|url-status=live}}</ref> and fled to the United States seeking political asylum (although [[Michael Davitt]] refused to shake his hand, calling Lynchehaun a "murderer"), where he successfully defeated legal attempts by the British authorities to have him extradited to face charges arising from the attack and the burning of the Valley House. Agnes McDonnell suffered terrible injuries from the attack but survived and lived for another 23 years, dying in 1923. Lynchehaun is said to have returned to Achill on two occasions, once in disguise as an American tourist, and eventually died in Girvan, Scotland, in 1937. The Valley House is now a hostel and bar.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Veiled Woman of Achill: Island Outrage and A Playboy Drama|last=Byrne|first=Patricia|publisher=The Collins Press|year=2012|isbn=9781848891470|location=Cork, Ireland}}</ref> [[File:Deserted village - Achill.jpg|thumb|View of the deserted village from beside the ruins of one of the houses]] [[File:Inside deserted house - Achill.jpg|thumb|Inside the ruins of one of the houses at the deserted village]] ====Deserted Village==== Close to Dugort, at the base of [[Slievemore]] mountain lies the Deserted Village. There are between 80 and 100 ruined houses in the village.<ref name="meehan2004p636">{{cite book |last=Meehan |first=Cary |date=2004 |title=Sacred Ireland |url= |location=Somerset |publisher=Gothic Image Publications |page=636|isbn=0 906362 43 1 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://achilltourism.com/experience-achill/places-of-interest/deserted-village-achill-island-co-mayo-ireland/ | website = achilltourism.com | title = Deserted Village | accessdate = 3 May 2025 }}</ref> The houses were built of unmortared stone. Each house consisted of just one room. In the area surrounding the Deserted Village, including on the mountain slopes, there is evidence of '[[lazy beds]]' in which crops like potatoes were grown. In Achill, as in other areas of Ireland, a '[[rundale]]' system was used for farming. This meant that the land around a village was rented from a landlord. This land was then shared by all the villagers to graze their cattle and sheep. Each family would then have two or three small pieces of land scattered about the village, which they used to grow crops. For many years people lived in the village and then in 1845 famine struck in Achill as it did in the rest of Ireland. Most of the families moved to the nearby village of Dooagh, which is beside the sea, while others emigrated. Living beside the sea meant that fish and shellfish could be used for food. The village was completely abandoned and is now known as the 'Deserted Village'.<ref name="meehan2004p636"/> While abandoned, the families that moved to Dooagh (and their descendants) continued to use the village as a 'booley village'.<ref>[http://www.achill247.com/pictures/slievemore-7.html ''Deserted village, Slievemore, Achill Island'', achill247.com] Retrieved on 17 February 2008.</ref> This means that during the summer season, the younger members of the family, teenage boys and girls, would take the livestock to the area and [[Transhumance|tend flocks or herds]] on the hillside and stay in the houses of the Deserted Village. They would then return to Dooagh in the autumn. This custom continued until the 1940s. Boolying was also carried out in other areas of Achill, including Annagh on Croaghaun mountain and in Curraun. At Ailt, Kildownet, the remains of a similar deserted village can be found. This village was deserted in 1855 when the tenants were evicted by the local landlord so the land could be used for cattle grazing; the tenants were forced to rent holdings in Currane, Dooega and Slievemore. Others emigrated to America.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
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