Location of Achill Island.

Keem Bay on Achill Island

Achill Island (Irish; Acaill, Oileán Acla) in County Mayo is the largest island off Ireland, and is situated off the west coast. It has a population of 2700. Its area is 57 square miles (146 square kilometres). Achill is attached to the mainland by Michael Davitt Bridge, between the villages of Achill Sound and Polranny, so it is possible to drive onto the island. This is a causeway and swing bridge which allows the passage of small boats. A bridge was first completed here in 1887, and replaced by the current structure in 1949. Other centres of population include the villages of Keel, Dooagh, Dooega and Dugort. The island's football pitch and two secondary schools are on the mainland at Polranny. Early settlements are believed to have been established on Achill around 3000 BCE. A paddle dating from this period was found at the crannog near Dookinella. Image File history File links Achill_Island. ... Image File history File links Achill_Island. ... Download high resolution version (900x600, 159 KB)Personal photo by Kanchelskis on it:, see it:Immagine:Achill - Keem est. ... Download high resolution version (900x600, 159 KB)Personal photo by Kanchelskis on it:, see it:Immagine:Achill - Keem est. ... Statistics Province: Connacht County Town: Castlebar Code: MO Area: 5,397 km² Population (2006) 123,648 Website: www. ... This article is about the unit of measure. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... The Michael Davitt Bridge is a swing bridge in County Mayo, Ireland that crosses from the Corraun Peninsula to Achill Island. ... Achill Sound (Irish Gob an Choire) is a village in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland. ... A swing bridge is a bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring at or near to its center, about which it can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration below. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A crannog is the name given in Scotland and Ireland to an artificial island or natural island, used for a settlement and usually linked to shore with a timber gangway or stone causeway. ...

Mural on Handball Alley

The island is 87 per cent peat bog. The parish of Achill also includes the Corraun peninsula. The people of Corraun consider themselves Achill people, and most natives of Achill refer to this area as being "in Achill". In the summer of 1996, the RNLI decided to station a lifeboat at Kildownet. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1353 KB) Mural on Handball Alley on Achill Island I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1353 KB) Mural on Handball Alley on Achill Island I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Virgin boreal acid bogs at Browns Lake Bog, Ohio A bog is a wetland type that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material. ... RNLI Lifeboat at Calshot Spit The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity dedicated to saving lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. ... Severn class lifeboat in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England. ...

History

It is believed that at the end of the Neolithic Period (around 4000 BCE), Achill had a population of 500-1000 people. The island would have been mostly forest until the Neolithic people began crop cultivation. Settlement increased during the Iron Age, and the dispersal of small forts around the coast indicate the warlike nature of the times. Granuaile maintained a castle at Kildownet in the sixteenth century. The Neolithic, (Greek neos=new, lithos=stone, or New Stone Age) was a period in the development of human technology that is traditionally the last part of the Stone Age. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... Gráinne Ní Mháille, also known as Granuaile or Gráinne Mhaol, known in English as Grace O’Malley (c. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there was much migration to Achill from other parts of Ireland, particularly Ulster, due to the political and religious turmoil of the time. For a while there were two different dialects of Irish being spoken on Achill. This led to many townlands being recorded as having two names during the 1824 Ordnace Survey, and some maps today give different names for the same place. Achill Irish still has many traces of Ulster Irish. (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Statistics Area: 24,481 km² Population (2006 estimate) 1,993,918 Ulster (Irish: Cúige Uladh, IPA: ) forms one of the four traditional provinces of Ireland. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... Ulster Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Ulster. ...

Sights

Overlooking the west coast of Achill Island.

Despite some unsympathetic development, the island retains some striking natural beauty. The cliffs of Croaghaun on the northern coast of the island are the highest sea cliffs in Europe but are inaccessible by road. On the western tip near Achill Head, Keem bay is arguably one of the most beautiful beaches on the Irish west coast. Image File history File linksMetadata Atlantic_Drive. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Atlantic_Drive. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ...

Keel Strand.

Keel beach is quite popular with tourists and some locals as a surfing location. Another extreme point of the island is Moytoge Head, which with its rounded appearance drops dramatically down to the ocean. An old British observation post, built during World War I to prevent the Germans landing arms for the Irish Republican Army, is still standing on Moytoge. Download high resolution version (900x600, 119 KB)Personal photo by Kanchelskis on it:, see it:Immagine:Achill Keel. ... Download high resolution version (900x600, 119 KB)Personal photo by Kanchelskis on it:, see it:Immagine:Achill Keel. ... Buttons Kaluhiokalani at Banzai Pipeline, December 1981 Surfing is a surface water sport in which the participant is carried by a breaking wave on a surfboard. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... This article is about the historical army of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic (1919–1922) which fought in the Irish War of Independence 1919-21, and the Irish Civil War 1922-23. ...

Slievemore mountain dominates the centre of the island.

The mountain Slievemore (671 metres) rises dramatically in the centre of the island and the Atlantic drive (along the south/west of the island) has some dramatically beautiful views. On the slopes of Slievemore, there is an abandoned village ("The Deserted Village") The Deserted Village at Slievemore is traditionally thought to be a remnant village from An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger, see Irish Potato Famine (1845–1849)). Recent archaeological research suggests the village was occupied year-round at least as early as the 19th century, though it is known to have served as a seasonally occupied booley village by the first half of the 20th century. A booley village is a village occupied only during part of the year, such as a resort community, a lake community, or (as the case on Achill) a place to live while tending flocks or herds of ruminants during winter or summer pasturing. ^[1] Specifically, the people of Dooagh and Pollagh would migrate in the summer to Slievemore (Transhumance), and then go back to Dooagh in the fall. Just west of the deserted village is an old Martello tower, again built by the British to warn of any possible French invasion. The area also boasts an approximately 5000-year old Neolithic tomb. Achillbeg (Acaill Beag, Little Achill) is a small island just off Achill's southern tip. Its inhabitants were resettled on Achill in the 1960's. There is a mural of a surfer on the gable of a pub in Cashel. Image File history File links Slievemore. ... Image File history File links Slievemore. ... An 1849 depiction of Bridget ODonnell and her two children during the famine. ... Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock between mountainous and lowland pastures. ... Martello towers (or simply Martellos) are small defensive forts built by the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards. ... The Neolithic tombs of Northwestern Europe, particularly Ireland, were built by the Neolithic (New Stone Age) people in the period 4000 - 2000 BC. There are four main types: Passage graves Portal dolmens Court cairns Wedge tombs All these types of tomb were built from large slabs of rock which were...

Economy

While a number of attempts at setting up small industrial units on the island have been made, the economy of the island is largely dependent on tourism. Subventions from Achill people working abroad, in particular in England, Scotland and the United States allowed many families to remain living in Achill throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the advent of Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" economy fewer Achill people are forced to look for work abroad. Agriculture plays a small role and is only profitable because of European subsidies. The fact that the island is mostly bog means that it is limited - largely to sheep farming. In the past, fishing was a significant activity but this aspect of the economy is small now. At one stage, the island was known for its shark fishing, basking shark in particular was fished for its valuable liver oil. There was a big spurt of growth in tourism in the 1960s and 1970s before which life was tough and difficult on the island. Since that heyday, the common perception is that tourism has been slowly declining. Tourists at Oahu island, Hawaii Tourism is the act of travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes, and also refers to the provision of services in support of this act. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I... Cartoon of the Celtic Tiger - the press media in Ireland use pictures of green striped tigers to symbolise or sometimes mock the Celtic Tiger The Celtic Tiger is a nickname for the Republic of Ireland during its period of rapid economic growth between the 1990s and 2001 or 2002. ... Sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. ... Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish by hooking, trapping, or gathering animals not classifiable as insects which breathe in water or pass their lives in water. ... Binomial name Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765) The Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus), also known as the Bone Shark, is the second largest fish alive, after the Whale Shark. ...

Architecture

The "Deserted Village" at the foot of Slievemore was a Booley village, see Transhumance.

Because of the inhospitable climate, very few houses date from before the twentieth century. An example of the style of earlier housing can be seen in the "Deserted Village" ruins near the graveyard at the foot of Slievemore. Even the houses in this village represent a relatively comfortable class of dwelling as, even as recently as a hundred years ago, some people still used "Beehive" style houses (small circular single roomed dwellings with a hole in ceiling to let out smoke). Many of the oldest and most picturesque inhabitated cottages date from the activities of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland - a body set up around the turn of the twentieth century in Ireland to improve the welfare for inhabitants of small villages and towns. Most of the homes in Achill at the time were very small and tightly packed together in villages. The CDB subsidised the building of new, more spacious (though still small by modern standards) homes outside of the traditional villages. Download high resolution version (900x600, 139 KB)Personal photo by Kanchelskis on it:, see it:Immagine:Achill Slievemore. ... Download high resolution version (900x600, 139 KB)Personal photo by Kanchelskis on it:, see it:Immagine:Achill Slievemore. ... Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock between mountainous and lowland pastures. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... The Congested Districts Board for Ireland was formed in 1891 to allieviate poverty and congested living conditions in the west of Ireland. ...

Some of the recent building development on the island (over the last 30 years or so) has been contentious and in many cases is not as sympathetic to the landscape as the earlier style of whitewashed raised gable cottages. Because of generous tax incentives, many holiday homes home been built over the last 10 years. This building boom has brought benefits but at a cost. On the one hand it has provided much-needed employment for the local people, has increased the demand and value for suitable development land and has allows the island to support more tourists. On the other hand, many of these houses have been built in prominent scenic areas and have damaged traditional views of the island while lying empty for most of the year. They may also be contributing to the declining fortunes for the traditional beneficiaries of tourism - bed and breakfasts, pubs and guesthouses. Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, or calsomine is a type of inexpensive paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and chalk (whiting). ... 19th century Cottages in the small hamlet of Crafton, Buckinghamshire In modern usage, a cottage is a dwelling, typically in a non-urban location (although there are cottage-style dwellings in cities). ... Tourists of various nationalities chatting over breakfast at a B&B in Quebec City. ...

Famous people

The artist Paul Henry stayed on the island for a number of years in the early 1900s and some of his most famous paintings are of the dramatic landscape of the island. The Nobel Prize winning author, Heinrich Böll, visited the island and wrote of his experience in his "Irish Journal" (Irisches Tagebuch). The Bölls later bought a cottage near Dugort and lived in it periodically until 2001 when they donated it to be used as an artists' residence. Graham Greene also spent time on Achill Island. Paul Henry (Born in Belfast 1876, died 1958) was an Irish artist who painted the west of Ireland landscape with a spare post-impressionist style. ... Nobel Prize medal. ... A monument of Heinrich Böll in Berlin Heinrich Theodor Böll (December 21, 1917 – July 16, 1985) was one of Germanys foremost post-World War II writers. ... Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH (October 2, 1904 – April 3, 1991) was a prolific English novelist, playwright, short story writer, travel writer and critic whose works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. ...

See also

• Connacht Irish
• Achill Sound

Connacht Irish is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Connacht. ... Achill Sound (Irish Gob an Choire) is a village in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland. ...

External links

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Achill

• Achill Island Maritime Archaeology Project
• Achill Island web site
• Achill Archaeological Field School web site
• VisitAchill multilingual visitor's site

Coordinates: 53°58′N 10°00′W Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...