The church at Carrickildavnet is beautifully situated on the south east side of Achill Island with fantastic views back towards the mainland. The place-name derives from ‘Cill Damhnait’ meaning the Church of Dympna. An early church was founded here in the 7^th century by St Dympna but the ruin we see today probably dates to the 17^th century, though in all likelihood incorporating many elements of an earlier 12^th century structure. Inside the roofless church on its eastern end stands an altar with attractive views of the ocean through the lancet window. Dympna is the patron saint of mental illness, grief and anxiety; and was martyred by her own father who beheaded her when she was only 15. Dympna was the daughter of a minor king in the medieval area of Oriel and became a devout Christian aged 14. At the age of 15 her mother passed away and her father overcome with grief and profoundly disturbed wished to marry his own daughter. Dympna fled to Achill first where it is believed she founded this church but her father continued to pursue her and she escaped to Belgium. Ultimately Dympna’s father Damon caught up with her in the village of Gheel near Antwerp and because she would not return with him he murdered her, her burial site is now marked by a small medieval church in the centre of the village.

The graveyard is home to multiple graves that contain the remains of two tragedies bizarrely linked by the prophecies of a 17^th century prophet known as Brian Rua O’ Cearbháin from Erris in County Mayo, a character I’ve been fascinated with for quite some time. Brian Rua was born around 1648 and was a small farmer who made many prophecies, most of which were destroyed however many stayed on in folk memory, in 1678 a Fr Paul Higgins instructed his parishioners not to associate with  O’ Cearbháin as prophecy was seen as a sin. Some of Brian Rua’s prophecies included, “There will be a road across every bog and the roads will have ribbons of eyes”, could this have foreseen 20^th century ‘cats-eyes’. “People will be imprisoned without crime or case, and it is a wise man that leaves the country” perhaps another foretelling of the harsh penal laws that were soon to come. “News will travel on the top of poles faster than a hawk will fly from Dublin to Blacksod Bay” again perhaps a foretelling of telephone communication. The one prophecy that relates to Achill and indeed this graveyard is the following, “Carriages on wheels with smoke and fire will come to Achill and the first and last carriages will carry dead bodies”, remarkably and tragically this came true.

The first disaster was the Clew Bay drownings of 1894, at that time it was standard that young people from the region would go to Scotland and work for the summer months picking potatoes while the older family members kept the small holdings on Achill in order. They left from Achill to take a small hooker boat across to Westport Quay, witnesses reported that the small ship was quite crowded, as they approached the quay, the large steamer, the SS Elm, which was due to take them to hospital came into sight. Many of the teenagers on board rushed to one side of the hooker to get a better view, this made the boat unstable and with a gust of wind it capsized. In all 32 people drowned and their bodies were laid in a cargo shed in Westport awaiting return to Achill. The newly constructed railway line from Westport to Achill had been operational as far as Newport in February 1894 but had not gone on the final stretch from Newport through Mulranny and onwards to Achill Sound, the first trip was the return of the 32 bodies of the young who had died en-route to the SS Elm.

Forty-three years later the second part of Brian Rua’s prophecy came to pass. In September 1937 ten young men aged between 13 and 23 had travelled to Kirkintilloch in eastern Scotland to pick potatoes. The second night after they arrived a fire broke out in the small bothy in which they were sleeping and all 10 perished. They were repatriated to Achill on a specially commissioned train. This brought to fruition the second part of Brian Rua’s tragic prophecy as this was the last train to ever reach Achill Island. Both mass graves are situated in the soil that surrounds Carrickildavnet Church and this unusual coincidence still is recalled locally to this day.

GPS: 53.8836, -9.94467