Description

Mayo Books Ireland is proud to present Seventy Years in the Wild West – The Rise and Fall of Ireland’s Largest Sheep Farm – Southwest Mayo, 1851 to 1923 by Sean Cadden.

A forgotten chapter of Mayo and Irish history is brought vividly to life in Seventy Years in the Wild West, the remarkable new book by historian and former Teagasc agricultural advisor, Sean Cadden tell the story of almost 80 square miles of Southwest Mayo from the evictions of 1851 to its repopulation in 1923.

The postFamine decade 1851-1861 was a cruel period for many small hill farmers who had survived the Great hunger. The Marquis of Sligo and the Earl of Lucan evicted 44 townlands in southwest Mayo. Captain William Houstoun leased 37 of those townlands to assemble Dhulough Farm, the largest farm in Ireland. John Louden leased the remaining seven townland to create Killary Farm.

The captain built Dhulough Lodge in the baurtiful but very remote Dhulough valley, where he and his wife Matilda, the novelist, lived for 20 years. William Houstoun made a success of the farm. However, he was succeeded by his unwise son George, who was bankrolled by his shrewed cousin Alfred Houstoun Boswall until George left the country to escape his debtors.