Product Description
A remarkable milestone in the history of the island of Achill in the 19th century was the establishment by the Reverend Edward Nangle of a Protestant missionary settlement in the midst of a mainly Roman Catholic and Irish-speaking population. This work traces the evolution of the settlement at Dugort from barren land to thriving village in a period of 10 to 12 years. By the mid-1840s it was firmly established with its schools, reclaimed farmland and luxuriant crops. Secondary settlementswere also established at Mweelin and on the island of Inishbiggle. However, very strong opposition to these developments came from the Roman Catholic archbishop of Tuam, Dr John MacHale and the priests he sent to the island. Yet, the great famine and its impact on the mission, the purchase of two-thirds of the island through the Encumbered Estates Court in 1851, and the departure of its founder Edward Nangle to the mainland parish of Skreen in Co Sligo in 1852 contributed to the final collapse of this Protestant missionary experiment.
Synopsis
A remarkable milestone in the history of the island of Achill in the 19th century was the establishment by the Reverend Edward Nangle of a Protestant missionary settlement in the midst of a mainly Roman Catholic and Irish-speaking population. This work traces the evolution of the settlement at Dugort from barren land to thriving village in a period of 10 to 12 years. By the mid-1840s it was firmly established with its schools, reclaimed farmland and luxuriant crops. Secondary settlementswere also established at Mweelin and on the island of Inishbiggle. However, very strong opposition to these developments came from the Roman Catholic archbishop of Tuam, Dr John MacHale and the priests he sent to the island. Yet, the great famine and its impact on the mission, the purchase of two-thirds of the island through the Encumbered Estates Court in 1851, and the departure of its founder Edward Nangle to the mainland parish of Skreen in Co Sligo in 1852 contributed to the final collapse of this Protestant missionary experiment.
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