“This, then, is what a human habitation looks like when it has been left in peace after death” –
The above quote from Heinrich Böll, a German writer who spent a lot of time on Achill during the 1950s, is carved into a wooden bench that greets the visitor to Slievemore Deserted Village; a poignant and beautiful historical site that stands in the shadow of the second tallest of Achill Island’s mountains. A megalithic tomb dating to around the 3rd or 4th century BC is an indication that the area around the base of Slievemore has been inhabited well into antiquity. Archaeological study of the field systems that surround the village would suggest that the settlement dates to at least the early Anglo-Norman period (12th century AD). The village consists of between 80 and 100 dwellings stretched along almost 1.6 kms and historically split into three segments from east to west, Tuar, Tuar Raibhach and Faiche. These names appear to be a later addition when the village no longer was inhabited all year round and more so served as a Booley. The First Ordnance Survey of Ireland in 1838 does indicate that the village was inhabited at that time however the famine appears to have decimated the population. When the chemist JE Howard visited Achill in the 1855 as part of his work on a book titled, ‘The Island of Saints’ he mentioned the village in passing, “the roads wind along the base of Slievemore. Here the ruins of a Deserted Village strike the eye unpleasantly, and should be removed, as they disadvantageously occupyd”
The village continued to be inhabited to some extent into the early 20th century when the local population used the cottages for ‘booleying’. Booleying, also known as transhumance, was the practice of occupying an area during the summer months when the cattle and sheep would be grazed on the mountainside and returning to their own homes, in this case the villages of Dooagh and Pollagh, during the winter months. It is believed that Achill Island was thought to be one of the last places booleying was practiced in Europe.
The lazybed ridges and furrows where potatoes were once grown alongside the small but beautifully placed little houses that dot the rugged side of the mountain are incredibly evocative and a moving insight into the lifecycle and world of those who came before us.
GPS: 53.99672, -10.07689