Rare image gives insight into life in Deserted Village

TIMES PAST?The image of a cottage in the Deserted Village in Achill which appeared in the December 1915 edition of the National Geographic Magazine

Insight into life in Deserted Village


Anton McNulty

A SEARCH on E-bay for images of Achill has unearthed a rare photograph of life in the island’s now Deserted Village and gives an insight of what the cottages looked like when they were inhabited.
Achill native Paddy Gallagher unearthed the rare photograph of young children outside a thatch cottage overlooking the Minaun Cliffs which appeared in a 1915 edition of the National Geographic magazine.
The photo shows a young girl on a donkey with a pardóg full of turf outside the cottage with other young children and an elederly woman also in the photograph. The photo taken by A W Cutler appeared in the December 1915 edition of National Geographic with the incorrect title of ‘Typical Dwelling on Achill Island, On The East Coast of Ireland’.
The caption says, ‘Note the curious custom of netting the thatched roof, the ends of the net being weighted with large stones. The little colleen on horseback has been busy since daylight, bringing in many loads of peat for the campaign against the relentless enemy - winter’.
After finding the image, Paddy decided to order the entire magazine and go to Achill to find out exactly where the original photo featured from.
“I found this photo by chance in a December 1915 issue of National Geographic Magazine, I reckon the photo was probably taken in the summer of 1914. I said the next time I go to Achill I will take a photo from the same spot, I thought I would end up at somebody’s house, and that I would be able to introduce them to their ancestors. I did not expect to find myself standing in the deserted village, with nobody around to welcome them home or to remember them.......100 years later,” Paddy wrote on his Facebook page.
After posting the image on Facebook, Paddy got in touch with SeΡn Molloy of the ‘What’s on in Achill’ Facebook page and they were able to locate the area where the original photograph was taken and believe to have found the original cottage. Like all the cottages in the Deserted Village, it is now in ruins and located behind Slievemore Cemetery.
The Deserted Village located at the foot of Slievemore mountain dates back to about the 1750s  and is made up of approximately 100 stone cottages. The majority of the villagers started to leave the area during the period around the Great Famine to the nearby villages of Keel, Pollagh and Dooagh. The cottages were often used as boleys and occupied during the summer months as cattle grazed the mountain side and this practice continued up until the 1940s.