A FOR G OT T E N PA R T OF IR E L A N D BY P Y E . ' O D ' C B . , . Illustra ted T UAM , IRELAND 1910 PH E LAN E tered c c ordi to A ct of Con ress in the Y ar 19 10 n A ng g , e , B P ' . ' YCE y . O the Ofiic e of L ibraria of Co re ss W a shi to D . In n ng , ng n, C DE DICAT ION The brave sons and ever-virtuous daughters of E rin in America are beautifully distinguished for their tearful remembrance of the lan d of their fathe rs across the sea . Ever in the din of busi s fl d ne s , in the urry of excitement , in the solitu e t e of hought , their h arts steal back where the t mother sits thinking of hem , where their child hood strayed . Like their own St . Columba , in th e exile , who , with tears in his eyes , watched to happy swallows return his dear Eire , the children of St . Patrick love to turn their eyes to “ Ireland , where the young are so gentle and the afi ec tion old are so wise . To them this book is ately dedicated by THE AUTHOR . 80 21 70 N T E N T S CO . Chapter fi . Con I Introductory, Bibliographical , denti al K II . The Ancient ingdom of Achill and Umhall III . Achill Island ’ r inn M ll I' . G a e H aile or Grace O a ey ' . Some Achill Landlords . n ' I. The Holy Wells of Achill Isla d Father Manus Sweeney ' An III . When the cients in Achill Were Y oung I' h . T e Coming of Nangle ' . The Progress of Nangle ' I Y . The Famine ears ' II . Tit Bits from the Achill Herald . ' t III . Af er the Famine ' I' . The Achill Problem N L T E D AUTHORITIES CO SU . Having . decided that the eye of the reader ought not be distracted by notes and references cumbered on the pages of the book , we desire to supply the want of them by taking the curious , b d so to say, ehin the screen , and pointing out the general sources of inforfnation embodied in the l : story . We have consu ted the following “ ” “ s Dr . Healy, Es ays and Papers , Schools and ” Scholars . i Cardinal Moran , Ir sh Saints in Great Brit ” ain . ’ l ' o . D Al ton H s r . E . , i to y of Ireland , II ’ Burke s Pe erages . ’ O Conn ors of Connaught . “ n P . G . Smyth , Fortu es of the House of Browne . d Stafi ord Spencer on Eliz abethan Irelan . “ A rc hdall Mona stic on H ibernic on , . “ H i ’ O e ne s Dominicans . “ . and Mrs Greene , The Making of a Nation Its ” Undoing . oi Dub s , Contemporary Ireland . “ s Francis Pres euse , Ireland Since the Union to ’ r Gordon s Histo y of Ireland . “ H assenc am e p , Ireland , R formation to Union . “ ” Betham , Irish Antiquities and Researches . ’ “ O Don ovan n I troduction to Irish Grammar . ” Mc Carth y, History of Our Own Times . ’ “ . O nn or . Co T P , The Parnell Movement . ’D “ . O e a Dr , Evidence Before Royal Commis ” sion . Statistics of C . D B . and D . A . I . Four Masters . ’ K s nox History of Mayo . 0 im Graham Bros , Cleveland , , from their mense selection of Ireland views , kindly supplied the pictures which have been here reproduced . A Fo rgotte n Part of Ire land AP 1 CH TER , U B B AP INTROD CTORY, I LIOGR HICAL AN D AL CONFIDENTI . Two years ago I wa s sent as a young i priest to Ach ll Island on my first mission . Up to that time my acquaintance with the island wa s made through the old school for of geography, happily the education youth now discarded , and it merely ena bled me to find its position in the map of l was Ire and , west of Mayo . There , how an its ever, idea abroad that people were savage and primitive and worse ; that it was a modern Nazareth , whence nothing good might be expected to come , and I hon estl a s was y feared , fresh I from theologi c l cal studies , that these bad , in orrigib e A chillmen as , they were supposed to be , could derive no benefit from the sacra mi i ments I came to ad n ster, and ought not to be admitted to them . At the same time I had the boundless confidence and enthu siasm of youth to work a speedy reforma 4 A FORGOTTEN PA RT tion and felt that I had merely to blow my trumpet and the walls of Jericho should } two fil he reu . ial to t g nd I found , after , that my hopes and y extravagant and a equally groundless . With these ide s , to fol however, I came the island and was lowed in a few days by two other fresh ar one for rivals , the who , eleven years , had i m been my genial schoolfellow, and , l ke y self, recently ordained , was to be now my - co . t fellow operator The o her, whose Mass I served for seven years as a boy in to mi my native parish , was be ad nistrator of the island . A happy and harmonious combination we proved , and when we parted it seemed the dissolution of the l good iest fellowship , Whereof this world holds record . After my first and hasty survey of the island , I thought it anything but interest ing and groped about to see if around this dreary waste of bogland the mantle of or history could not be thrown , if, with “ c om Irving, I could not pass from the monpla ce realities of the present and lose myself among the shadowy grandeurs of OF IRE LAND 5 the past . I remember how I devoured the first scrap Of information on its past “ which I found in The Battle Of the Faith “ of in Ireland . The Dark Lady Doom brought to my mind the story Of Grainne a ile one of —Kildown ett U , whose castles - I was pleased to find in the island . One day I' discovered a copy Of the Achill 1844 31st . Herald , dated October , The “ as Of Herald , I learned from the Battle was the Faith , a journal printed and - ff s was published in this far O i land . It a 8 7 Its s a s 1 3 . started far back July , pon derous title tells the purpose and gives a fair idea of the contents Of the various um for n bers , and I make no apology giv ing it in ful l : T H E A OH IL L HERALD AND WESTERN WITNESS : BEING A MONTHLY JOURNAL E' HIBITING T H E PRINCIPLES AND PROGRESS ’ I ' P T H E OF CHR ST S KINGDOM , AND E OSING ERRORS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THAT S E O TION OF T H E R I' AL ‘ KINGDOM OF A NTI OH R IST T H E PAPAOY COMMONLY CALLED . The paper ran into the nineties . For a long time I searched in vain for other O opies , until , to my inexpressible joy, I 6 A FORGOTTEN PA RT came across a complete file in Trinity Col lege Library, Dublin . Meantime , however, a grand pathetic story Of a famishing people I had heard Old from the chroniclers , the men Of the a c island , with whom I made an early Of quaintance . It was the story a battle won . Yes , in this Nazareth , amongst this “ ” i savage people , in th s Forgotten Part Of Ireland, unknown to the outside world , many, whose cries were drowned in the of out wail the ocean , poured their lives ’ for l d Ire an s faith , died and were buried where they fell , e Unw pt , unhonored and unsung . It brought a tear to my eye to think of to m their forgotten fate , and my ind Oliver Wendell Holmes and his beautiful epitaph : Nay, grieve not for the dead alone , ’ Whose song has told their heart s sad story ; Weep for the voiceless who have known The cross , without the crown of glory . I longed to do something towards pre serving and publishing their tale . I n sought every Opportu ity Of speaking to , those venerable and ancient eye-witnesses OF IRELAN D 7 ' ri was and actors of events deSc bed . It a as is labor of love to hear them relate , it to ll all t . record , a they felt and hey saw I hastened to gather up some fragments of their story ere the grave closed over them as forever, they d Wait on the verge of ark eternity, Like stranded wrecks , the tide returning , ” To sweep them from our S ight . l e The ife of Edward Nangl , the Apostle of l e Achi l, transparently prejudic d , but its l as l as valuable for historica data , we l “ ” le the Achill Herald , enab d me to check the stories Of the pe asantry and give them h a historical perspective , whic , otherwise , u not I co ld very easily have done . S O far a tolerably adequate view Of 1834 as as . events far back , when Mr l wa s Nangle came to the is and , opened up before me ; but wishing to penetrate far ther and lift the veil Of history I continued my search .