Tóin an tSeanbhaile
Encyclopedia
Tóin an tSeanbhaile is a small village located on the north east point of Achill Island
, Ireland
. It lies within the Mayo Gaeltacht
.
(Bunacurry).
The bedrock of the area consists mainly of Schist
and Gneiss
, with lowland blanket bog
to the south, and machair and rocky seashore to the north and west.
The area has a number of lakes, Lough Gall (Loch Geall, the bright lake), Loch na mBreac (The lake of the trout), Lough Doo (Loch Dubh, The black lake) and Sruhill Lough. These lakes have healthy stocks of Brown trout
, some sea trout, and Lough Gall is also artificially stocked with Rainbow trout
.
A machair exists near Lough Doo, which has been designated a Special Area of Conservation
by the National Parks and Wildlife Service
, under the European Habitats Directive. The site itself is of international importance in the conservation of mosses and liverworts
, with some scarce and rare species, Catoscopium nigritum and Fossombronia incurva, and is in fact the only location in Ireland that the liverwort
Leiocolea gillmannii has been recorded at.
Much of the southern townland was designated a Natural Heritage Area
by Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, in 2007 because of its importance as a hyperoceanic blanket bog habitat.
The village itself is broken into a number of smaller subsections - Shruffle, Fóirín, Árdán and the street. These divisions go largely unnoticed through the year until the 23rd of June (St. Johns night), which sees subsection having its own bonfire, as per local tradition.
to the south of the village near Bun an Churraigh, a Midden
, Ringfort
and Enclosure
on Caraun Point (where the first settlement existed), a Crannóg
near the centre of the modern village. A cillín, a burial ground for the unbaptised, mainly children is also found on Caraun point,and which gives it its Irish name Rinn na Leanbh.
John Goodacre sold the 1900 acres (7.7 km²) of land around Tóin an tSeanbhaile which had been bought by his father, to the 8th Earl of Cavan, Frederick J.W. Lambart
in the early 1870s. Lambart built a hunting lodge on this land, and in 1888 his wife sold the land to Mrs Agnes McDonnell.
The then landlady and the estate became national and international news in 1894, when Mrs. McDonnell was brutally attacked by her bailiff, James Lynchehaun, and left for dead after he set fire to her house. His arrest, and subsequent escape were reported in the media, and became part of the popular culture of the era, with references to the affair in J.M. Synge's drama The Playboy of the Western World
,http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=907828 Joyce's
Ulysses
(1922) and ballads of the time.
The house was subsequently rebuilt by McDonnell, and completed in 1902. The estate was purchased from McDonnell's son, Leslie Elliot, by the Gallagher family in 1942. It currently operates as a bar and hostel.
In recent years, the story of Mrs. McDonnell and Lynchehaun has become the subject of fiction, with a book, The Playboy and the Yellow Lady published in 1986, and a 1998 film Love and Rage
, starring Daniel Craig
as Lynchehaun, and Greta Scacchi
as Agnes McDonnell.
The 1911 census
show a population of 253, which has declined today to an estimated population of 113.
Birds commonly sighted on the shore include Cormorant
s, Shags, Snipe
, Lapwing
, Oystercatcher
, Common Tern
, Arctic Tern
, Sandwich Tern, Common Gull
, Kittiwake
, Blackheaded Gull, Great Black-backed Gull
, Lesser Black-backed Gull
, Herring Gull. Further inshore, species commonly sighted include Whooper Swan
, Wigeon
, Teal, Mallard
, Coot
, Lapwing
, Curlew
, Little Grebe
, Grey Heron
, Red-breasted Merganser
and Light-bellied Brent Goose
. From time to time the rare Corncrake has nested inland also.
The blanket bog to the south has a large biodiversity of flora, including Black Bog-Rush, Purple Moor-grass, Cross-Leaved Heath, Ling Heather, White Beak-sedge, Common Cottongrass, Deergrass,
Round-leaved Sundew, Lousewort, Bog mosses (Sphagnum spp.), lichens (Cladonia
spp.), Racomitrium lanuginosum, liverwort Pleurozia purpurea is also present. There are
hollows colonised by Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) and moss Campylopus atrovirens and the bog moss Sphagnum contortum also occurs.
A report on the area by the National Parks and Wildlife service further details
440 once a day in each direction.
Achill Island
Achill Island in County Mayo is the largest island off the coast of Ireland, and is situated off the west coast. It has a population of 2,700. Its area is . Achill is attached to the mainland by Michael Davitt Bridge, between the villages of Gob an Choire and Poll Raithní . A bridge was first...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. It lies within the Mayo Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
.
Geography
Tóin an tSeanbhaile is one of the flattest places on Achill Island, a shallow plain encircled by low hills which is bordered mostly by the sea, with Ridge Point to the north, and Sruhill Lough to the south. To the southeast lies the village of Dún Ibhir (Dooniver), to the west lies Dúmha Goirt (Dugort) and to the south lies Bun an ChurraighBun an Churraigh
Bunacurry is a small village located towards the north of Achill Island, Ireland. It lies within the Mayo Gaeltacht. The village has a national school, a Roman catholic church, and formerly had a Monastery It had two shops and a Post Office in the Year 2000 by November 2007 it had none. Today it...
(Bunacurry).
The bedrock of the area consists mainly of Schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
and Gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
, with lowland blanket bog
Blanket bog
Blanket bog or blanket mire is an area of peatland, forming where there is a climate of high rainfall and a low level of evapotranspiration, allowing peat to develop not only in wet hollows but over large expanses of undulating ground. The blanketing of the ground with a variable depth of peat...
to the south, and machair and rocky seashore to the north and west.
The area has a number of lakes, Lough Gall (Loch Geall, the bright lake), Loch na mBreac (The lake of the trout), Lough Doo (Loch Dubh, The black lake) and Sruhill Lough. These lakes have healthy stocks of Brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
, some sea trout, and Lough Gall is also artificially stocked with Rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
.
A machair exists near Lough Doo, which has been designated a Special Area of Conservation
Special Area of Conservation
A Special Area of Conservation is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive , also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora...
by the National Parks and Wildlife Service
National Parks and Wildlife Service (Ireland)
The National Parks and Wildlife Service manages the Irish State's nature conservation responsibilities. It is part of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government....
, under the European Habitats Directive. The site itself is of international importance in the conservation of mosses and liverworts
Marchantiophyta
The Marchantiophyta are a division of bryophyte plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like other bryophytes, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information....
, with some scarce and rare species, Catoscopium nigritum and Fossombronia incurva, and is in fact the only location in Ireland that the liverwort
Leiocolea gillmannii has been recorded at.
Much of the southern townland was designated a Natural Heritage Area
Natural Heritage Area
Natural Heritage Area is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the Republic of Ireland. The Wildlife Act 2000 makes legal provision for the designation and protection of a national network of Natural Heritage Areas...
by Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, in 2007 because of its importance as a hyperoceanic blanket bog habitat.
The village itself is broken into a number of smaller subsections - Shruffle, Fóirín, Árdán and the street. These divisions go largely unnoticed through the year until the 23rd of June (St. Johns night), which sees subsection having its own bonfire, as per local tradition.
History
Tóin an tSeanbhaile is one of the oldest settlements on Achill island, as evidenced by its name (Tóin an tSeanbhaile - The end of the old village), with a number of prehistoric archaeological sites, including a CairnCairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
to the south of the village near Bun an Churraigh, a Midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
, Ringfort
Ringfort
Ringforts are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Iron Age , although some were built as late as the Early Middle Ages . They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland...
and Enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
on Caraun Point (where the first settlement existed), a Crannóg
Crannog
A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia from the European Neolithic Period, to as late as the 17th/early 18th century although in Scotland,...
near the centre of the modern village. A cillín, a burial ground for the unbaptised, mainly children is also found on Caraun point,and which gives it its Irish name Rinn na Leanbh.
John Goodacre sold the 1900 acres (7.7 km²) of land around Tóin an tSeanbhaile which had been bought by his father, to the 8th Earl of Cavan, Frederick J.W. Lambart
Frederick Lambart, 8th Earl of Cavan
Frederick John William Lambart, 8th Earl of the County of Cavan was born on 30 December 1815 at his parent's home of Ower Cottage, Fawley, Hampshire, England...
in the early 1870s. Lambart built a hunting lodge on this land, and in 1888 his wife sold the land to Mrs Agnes McDonnell.
The then landlady and the estate became national and international news in 1894, when Mrs. McDonnell was brutally attacked by her bailiff, James Lynchehaun, and left for dead after he set fire to her house. His arrest, and subsequent escape were reported in the media, and became part of the popular culture of the era, with references to the affair in J.M. Synge's drama The Playboy of the Western World
The Playboy of the Western World
The Playboy of the Western World is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on January 26, 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo during the early 1900s...
,http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=907828 Joyce's
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
(1922) and ballads of the time.
The house was subsequently rebuilt by McDonnell, and completed in 1902. The estate was purchased from McDonnell's son, Leslie Elliot, by the Gallagher family in 1942. It currently operates as a bar and hostel.
In recent years, the story of Mrs. McDonnell and Lynchehaun has become the subject of fiction, with a book, The Playboy and the Yellow Lady published in 1986, and a 1998 film Love and Rage
Love and Rage
The Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation was formed in the United States in 1993 out of the remaining groups in the Love and Rage Network.-Background:...
, starring Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
as Lynchehaun, and Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi is an Italian-Australian actor.-Early life:Scacchi was born Greta Gracco in Milan, Italy, on 18 February 1960, the daughter of Luca Scacchi Gracco, an Italian art dealer and painter, and Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and antiques dealer...
as Agnes McDonnell.
The 1911 census
Census in the United Kingdom
Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 and in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1921; simultaneous censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with...
show a population of 253, which has declined today to an estimated population of 113.
| Year | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Houses | 21 | 22 | 74 | 81 | 84 | 55 | 43 | 46 |
| Population | 115 | 96 | 334 | 381 | 413 | 274 | 232 | 253 |
Wildlife
Tóin an tSeanbhaile has a broad diversity of wildlife. Marine mammals (Whales, Porpoises) and Basking shark are commonly sighted off Ridge point, and the area is well known for its diversity of mosses and liverworths. Common Birds-foot Trefoil, Ladys Bedstraw, various small Sedges and Sand Sedge are found on the Machair near Loch Dubh, and Loch na mBreac has a good growth of Common Reed, Branched Bur-Reed and Bulrush.Birds commonly sighted on the shore include Cormorant
Cormorant
The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...
s, Shags, Snipe
Snipe
A snipe is any of about 25 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and crypsis plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia and Europe and the...
, Lapwing
Lapwing
Vanellinae are any of various crested plovers, family Charadriidae, noted for its slow, irregular wingbeat in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. Its length is 10-16 inches. They are a subfamily of medium-sized wading birds which also includes the plovers and dotterels. The Vanellinae are...
, Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher
The oystercatchers are a group of waders; they form the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia...
, Common Tern
Common Tern
The Common Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in temperate and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and east and central North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. It is sometimes...
, Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern
The Arctic Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America...
, Sandwich Tern, Common Gull
Common Gull
The Common Gull or Mew Gull Larus canus is a medium-sized gull which breeds in northern Asia, northern Europe and northwestern North America. It migrates further south in winter...
, Kittiwake
Kittiwake
The kittiwakes are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the Black-legged Kittiwake and the Red-legged Kittiwake . The epithets "Black-legged" and "Red-legged" are used to distinguish the two species in North America, but in Europe, where R...
, Blackheaded Gull, Great Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
The Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world, which breeds on the European and North American coasts and islands of the North Atlantic...
, Lesser Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
The Lesser Black-backed Gull is a large gull that breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe. It is migratory, wintering from the British Isles south to West Africa...
, Herring Gull. Further inshore, species commonly sighted include Whooper Swan
Whooper Swan
The Whooper Swan , Cygnus cygnus, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American Trumpeter Swan. An old name for the Whooper Swan is Elk; it is so called in Francis Willughby and John Ray's Ornithology of 1676.-Description:The Whooper Swan is similar in...
, Wigeon
Wigeon
The Eurasian Wigeon, also known as Widgeon or Eurasian Widgeon is one of three species of wigeon in the dabbling duck genus Anas. It is common and widespread within its range...
, Teal, Mallard
Mallard
The Mallard , or Wild Duck , is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia....
, Coot
Coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Fulica. Coots have predominantly black plumage, and, unlike many of the rails, they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water...
, Lapwing
Lapwing
Vanellinae are any of various crested plovers, family Charadriidae, noted for its slow, irregular wingbeat in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. Its length is 10-16 inches. They are a subfamily of medium-sized wading birds which also includes the plovers and dotterels. The Vanellinae are...
, Curlew
Curlew
The curlews , genus Numenius, are a group of eight species of birds, characterised by long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. They are one of the most ancient lineages of scolopacid waders, together with the godwits which look similar but have straight bills...
, Little Grebe
Little Grebe
The Little Grebe , also known as Dabchick, member of the grebe family of water birds. At 23 to 29 cm in length it is the smallest European member of its family. It is commonly found in open bodies of water across most of its range.-Description:The Little Grebe is a small water bird with a pointed...
, Grey Heron
Grey Heron
The Grey Heron , is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in the milder south and west, but many birds retreat in winter from the ice in colder regions...
, Red-breasted Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
The Red-breasted Merganser is a diving duck.-Taxonomy:The Red-breasted Merganser was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae.-Description:...
and Light-bellied Brent Goose
Brent Goose
The Brant or Brent Goose, Branta bernicla, is a species of goose of the genus Branta. The Black Brant is an American subspecies. The specific descriptor bernicla is from the same source as "barnacle" in Barnacle Goose, which looks similar but is not a close relation.-Appearance:The Brant Goose is...
. From time to time the rare Corncrake has nested inland also.
The blanket bog to the south has a large biodiversity of flora, including Black Bog-Rush, Purple Moor-grass, Cross-Leaved Heath, Ling Heather, White Beak-sedge, Common Cottongrass, Deergrass,
Round-leaved Sundew, Lousewort, Bog mosses (Sphagnum spp.), lichens (Cladonia
spp.), Racomitrium lanuginosum, liverwort Pleurozia purpurea is also present. There are
hollows colonised by Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) and moss Campylopus atrovirens and the bog moss Sphagnum contortum also occurs.
A report on the area by the National Parks and Wildlife service further details
Amenities
Although a small village, Tóin an tSeanbhaile has a number of amenities, including a Primary School (S.N Thóin a'tSeanbhaile, built 1914), Soccer Pitch (Fr. O'Brien Park, home ground of Achill Rovers), a Roman Catholic church, a Pier and blue flag beaches, a Pitch and Putt course, as well as a Bar and Hostel. The village has one postbox, one bus stop and is served by the Bus ÉireannBus Éireann
Bus Éireann provides bus services in Ireland with the exception of those operated entirely within the Dublin Region, which are provided by Dublin Bus. Bus Éireann, established as a separate company in 1987, is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann. The logo of Bus Éireann incorporates a red Irish...
440 once a day in each direction.