Fun with Maps – Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland

This episode of Fun with Maps is about a small island off the West coast of Ireland called Achill. Mayo is one of 32 counties in Ireland. For a small island there is a lot of history there. For example, the famous Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley's Castle is located in the southeast corner of Achill Island. James Joyce used the legend of Grace O'Malley ("her grace o'malice") in his 1939 novel Finnegans Wake. Dan looks at Slievemore Mountain and the "Deserted Village” there with approximately 80 ruined houses. For many years people lived and farmed in the village and then in 1845 the Great Hunger struck in Achill as it did in the rest of Ireland and the village was completely abandoned which is where the name 'Deserted Village' came from. Kildamhnait on the south-east coast of Achill is named after St. Damhnait, or Dymphna, who founded a church there in the 7th century. Dymphna fled to Achill to escape her tyrannical father and established her church on this site. There is also a holy well just outside the graveyard. Johnny Kilbane was a featherweight boxer who held the world featherweight title from 1912 to 1923, the longest period in the division's history. He was the second longest world title holder in boxing history, behind only Joe Louis. His family was originally from Achill, County Mayo and then moved to Cleveland. Charles Boycott was an unpopular landowner who lived on Achill and the word “boycott” is named for him. Nancy Corrigan from Achill became only the second woman to earn a commercial pilot's license in the US. She paid for her flying lessons by being a model. The Martin McDonagh movie ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ was filmed on location on Achill Island. Achill is attached to the mainland by the Michael Davitt Bridge. John Reid and Yvonne Loftus Corcoran from the Michael Davitt Museum in County Mayo tell his story including how Michael Davitt and Charles Stewart Parnell formed the Land League at the end of the 19th century to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land on which they worked. Dan’s home city of Cleveland Ohio USA was twinned with Achill twenty years ago and a large percentage of Cleveland’s numerous Irish are from mayo and specifically Achill. See more of the Irish in Cleveland at https://www.clevelandpeople.com/groups/irish/irish.htm
And see more Fun with Maps episodes at https://www.clevelandpeople.com/fun-with-maps.htm

Видео Fun with Maps – Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland канала Dan Hanson