Dooagh
Encyclopedia
Dooagh is a village located on Achill Island
in County Mayo
, Ireland
. It is best known for the nearby Keem Bay
, a Blue Flag beach
.
, Dooagh has an air of beauty, where life is slow and relaxed. It once had three hotels but these have been closed due to the falling level of tourism in recent times. There are, however, many Bed and breakfast
establishments and self-catering apartments. There are two Public house
s, "The Pub" or "Lourdies," and Gielty's, which also have Traditional Irish Music sessions. There is also a post office and grocery store, and CheckPoint Press, a publishing and author services operation, is based in Dooagh.
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...
in County Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
, 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 is best known for the nearby Keem Bay
Keem Bay
Keem Bay is located past Dooagh village in the west of Achill Island in County Mayo, Ireland. It contains a Blue Flag beach. The bay was formerly the site of a basking shark fishery. There is an old British army lookout post on the top of Moyteoge to the bay's south. To the west is an old booley...
, a Blue Flag beach
Blue Flag beach
The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education that a beach or marina meets its stringent standards.The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE which is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation consisting of 65 organisations in 60 member countries in Europe,...
.
Facilities
Although not full of amenities like its neighbour KeelKeel, County Mayo
Keel is a village on Achill Island in County Mayo, Ireland....
, Dooagh has an air of beauty, where life is slow and relaxed. It once had three hotels but these have been closed due to the falling level of tourism in recent times. There are, however, many Bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
establishments and self-catering apartments. There are two Public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s, "The Pub" or "Lourdies," and Gielty's, which also have Traditional Irish Music sessions. There is also a post office and grocery store, and CheckPoint Press, a publishing and author services operation, is based in Dooagh.
Places of interest
- Going west along the road leads you over the side of Croghaun Mountain to the golden sands of Keem Strand, with impressive views over Clew BayClew BayClew Bay is a natural ocean bay in County Mayo, Ireland. It contains Ireland's best example of sunken drumlins. According to tradition, there is an island in the bay for every day of the year. The bay is overlooked by Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holy mountain, and the mountains of North Mayo. Clare...
. A turning off the Keem Road leads to Lough Acorrymore, surrounded by scree slopes and now dammed to supply water for the entire island. The seaward side of Croghaun has spectacularly high cliffs, the island's highest. - On the road from Dooagh beach towards Lough Acorrymore stands an impressive building called Corrymore House, once the home of Captain Charles BoycottCharles BoycottCaptain Charles Cunningham Boycott was a British land agent whose ostracism by his local community in Ireland as part of a campaign for agrarian tenants' rights in 1880 gave the English language the verb to boycott, meaning "to ostracise"...
, a BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
land agent whose ostracism by his local community in IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
as part of a campaign for agrarian tenants' rights in 1880 gave the English languageEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
the verbVerbA verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
to boycott, meaning "to ostracise". Captain Boycott moved to Corrymore House after his residence at Keem was burnt down. The American artist Robert HenriRobert HenriRobert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School in art.- Early life :...
also lived there at one time, having bought the house in 1924.
Culture
- A proud tradition of the Pipe bandPipe bandA pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....
thrives on Achill, with the Island having five Pipe bands, Dooagh Pipe Band being one of these. Dooagh Pipe Band was founded on 17 March 1947 with a membership of eleven. With over 50 members it is now the Island's largest band. - Scoil Acla, Irish Traditional Music Summer School, takes place annually in Dooagh. In 2008 300 students enrolled. Scoil Acla was established in 1910. Artist Paul HenryPaul Henry (painter)Paul Henry was a Northern Irish artist noted for depicting the west of Ireland landscape with a spare post-impressionist style....
was an active member of Scoil Acla and in 1912 directed the play Casadh an t-Sugain (The Twisting Of The Rope) by Douglas HydeDouglas HydeDouglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...
, in the Scoil Acla Hall. The school gradually went into decline, but was revived again in 1985.
Education
- Dooagh National School serves the family's of the Dooagh, Pollagh and Keel areas. It has 63 pupils and three teachers. The school was built in 1959 and renovated in 2001.
- Achill Archaeological Field School is based at the Achill Archaeology Centre in Dooagh. It was founded in 1991 and is a training school for students of archaeologyArchaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and anthropologyAnthropologyAnthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. Since 1991, several thousand students from 21 countries have come to Achill to study. The school is involved in a study of the prehistoric and historic landscape at SlievemoreSlievemoreSlievemore is the second highest peak on Achill Island, in County Mayo, Ireland. Its elevation is 671 metres.-Archaeology:* Achill Archaeological Field School is based at the Achill Archaeology Centre in Dooagh. It was founded in 1991 and is a training school for students of archaeology and...
, incorporating a research excavation at a number of sites within the Deserted Village of Slievemore. Slievemore is rich in archaeological monuments that span a 5000 year period from the NeolithicNeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
to the Post Medieval.
People
- In the centre of Dooagh is a commemoration plaque to Don Allum, the first man to row across the Atlantic OceanAtlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
in both directions. He landed close to the memorial on Dooagh beach on 4 September 1987, completing the second leg of his voyage.
- Artist Robert HenriRobert HenriRobert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School in art.- Early life :...
came to Achill on a regular basis in the early decades of the 20th century. It was during his early trips to Achill prior to the outbreak of World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
that Henri painted extensively and is reputed to have done portraits of almost all the children in Dooagh village. He bought Corrymore House on the hill above Dooagh in 1924. He died in America in 1929. - Novelist Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
, visited and stayed on Achill Island a number of times in the late 1940s. He wrote parts of the novels The Heart of the MatterThe Heart of the MatterThe Heart of the Matter , a novel by the English author Graham Greene, won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. During World War II, Greene worked for the Secret Intelligence Service in Sierra Leone, the setting for his novel...
(subsequently banned in Ireland) and The Fallen Idol in Dooagh, and Achill Island is also said to have inspired Greene to write some of his best poetry. He retained a special affection for Achill Island, which he mentioned frequently in his letters and notes, although this was likely due in some part to the circumstances of his visits, as he was introduced to Achill by his mistress, Catherine Walston. She rented a cottage in Dooagh, with no electricity, one outside tap for water, and a corrugated iron roof on the traditional stone cottage, now since demolished.