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Achill Commonage

Achill Commonage

This ad caught my eye recently as it touches on a few matters of interest for those that seek out the wilder places. It relates to the sale of grazing rights to a small portion of a large commonage area covering much of western Achill. It should be noted that the term ‘commonage’ does not mean the commons are owned by all the citizens but that specified parties, usually local farmers own & share grazing and turbary (turf) rights across the commonage. It’s an ancient concept going back to early days of human settlement and farming.

Firstly it appears to relate to the Achill Mission. This was set up by Rev. Nangle in the 1830s and lasted till the 1880s with a base at the Colony near Dugort. It’s purpose was both to convert the islanders to the Church of Ireland and also to educate. At one stage they were major landlords on Achill but given their demise over a century ago, it’s noteworthy that land rights persist many years.

Secondly the uplands and wilder places in Ireland can be owned by the state as in the national parks or Coillte etc But most uplands are owned as commonage by various parties, usually local hill farmers who share grazing rights across them. In this case of Achill, it would appear that this large commonage including Croaghaun, Slievemore and Minaun was divided between a large number of interests, 550+ parties. It’s probable that many have been consolidated since as the number of hill farmers still grazing these parts would be counted on your fingers and toes. And/ or that many parties that own grazing rights here now don’t use them, as deceased or emigrated etc.

Thirdly and my theory here, these commonages on Achill have relatively little upland fencing unlike other parts of the west. I suspect that where only a handful of parties own a commonage that they can readily agree between themselves to fence but where large numbers are involved in a legal sense, such agreement is not possible and commons are left unfenced.

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