Michael Davitt may not be a son of the Ox Mountains but he is a son of the River Moy. He was born in a simple cottage on the banks of the river in Straide on March 25, 1846, at the height of the Great Famine.

Tracing the history of a diocese over a period of almost 1,000 years is no easy task, but if any man is up to the job, it is Brendan Hoban.

Invoking a blessing, I started my day  “Bail ó Dhia ar an obair” is what I would say  Asking for guidance to keep my knowhow  And plough a straight furrow with horses and ...

All in the April morning, April airs were abroad; The sheep with their little lambs, passed me by on the road. Katharine Tynan  This is the Season of Lambs in the Ox Mountain region.

One of the most remote places in the Ox Mountains is Mountaffe. Close to Lough Talt, it isn’t so much a mountain as a place; an out-of-the-way location where a vibrant community once lived.

I was intrigued recently to hear that a European Wildcat had been discovered in Ireland. I was thinking to myself, where did he escape from and how might he survive without a mate.

If an outsider was asked to choose the perfect beauty spot in the Ox Mountains, they might well choose Lough Talt.

I work in a school that nestles at the foot of the Ox Mountains. Across the road from the school is the village church and each day, at noon, the Bells of the Angelus ring out across the valley.

I am not sure that everyone has that special year that stands out for them but I have – and it is 1974. In my Ox Mountain childhood, this year contained so many elements of my coming of age that it remains a year apart.

There is hardly a parish in the Ox Mountain region that does not contain the ruins of an old creamery. All these local depots were once vibrant focal points in farming communities that relied on them for essential income and a social outlet.

Many people around the Ox Mountain region will be familiar with Saints Nathy and Attracta, the patron saints of Achonry Diocese.

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. The famous opening line of L. P.

Growing up, there seemed to be a copy of Old Moore’s Almanac in almost every home. On most kitchen dressers in the Ox Mountains, this essential item was stashed neatly between the mugs and plates for regular consultation.

Spitting may be frowned upon today but it was once a common practice in rural Ireland, writes SEAN HALLINAN.

The Mulranny police conspiracy case of 1898 attracted national attention and was the subject of lengthy debates in the House of Commons, writes EDWIN McGREAL

John McCormack was one of the world's first radio megastars, writes PAT MCCARRICK.

History doesn’t often remember people like Richard Hayes, the quiet librarian with Mayo roots who outsmarted the Nazis, writes AONGHUS Ó MAICÍN.

The tradition of butter making has been around for thousands of years, writes PAT MCARRICK

Inspired by the late Manchán Magan, LIAM ALEX HEFFRON journeys through the forgotten names of his native Mayo and rediscovers a sacred way of seeing the land.

A century ago last month, the members of Mayo County Council voted by 23 to five to establish Mayo’s first public library service.

The Tuam Beat goes Sugar Sugar  The heart speaks how’s your Mother  The Tuam Beat goes Shimmy Shammy  The heart speaks how’s your Mammy  Singin' the ...

When I was a child in the 1970s we used to visit a family relative and while away a few hours of the night in the rambling house days.

The old parochial house in Cloonacool is now a private residence. It served as the local priest’s residence for many years but when originally built, it was the property of the O’Hara family - the parents and six children.

My father used to tell a story about a man who was killed with a blow of a shillelagh in a fight at the Fair of Roscrea.  There was a subsequent trial about the incident but the accused got off scot-free.

While little is known of the early years of William Brown, there is no doubt that his first breath was filled with the heather-scented air that drifted down from the Ox Mountains and that his first games were played along the banks of the River Moy ...

Standing stones are located in several locations in the county.

Fr Jack O'Brien had also served heroically during World War II before embarking on a missionary posting to South Korea.

Charles J. Haughey was born in Castlebar a century ago this week. Like most aspects of his life, his Mayo roots were a source of controversy, intrigue and very divided opinion, writes EDWIN McGREAL.

The French landing in County Mayo in August 1798 and the subsequent military campaign were commemorated at a gathering in Belcarra Community Centre on August 27th last.

Joseph W Gavaghan (known in US as Joseph W. Gavan) was born in the townland of Claddagh, near Aclare, in 1865.

I like the idea of the traditional saints, the early Christian teachers, whose stories have survived through the ages. We can make of these stories what we will but they all contain essential elements.

As excitement builds for this year’s Coillte Come Home Festival, it’s worth taking a nostalgic look back at where it all began.

When passing through the sleepy village of Aclare in south Sligo, it is difficult to believe it was once a thriving business hub of retail outlets and pubs.

There was a harvest scheme introduced by the government in July 1944 and it was under the aegis of the Department of Industry and Commerce. In 1947, the scheme was transferred to the Department of Social Welfare.

A beautiful compilation of memories about rural life in times gone by has just been reprinted for a third time due to its ongoing success.

It might surprise some people to know that hidden in the National Archives, there is an enchanting history of every parish in Ireland. This history contains our local myths and legends, our fairy stories, even our ghost stories.

Few things in life have given me more pleasure than building a length of dry-stone wall. I’m not an expert but anything I have built hasn’t fallen down – at least, not yet anyway.

February 3rd, 2025, marked the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Manila.

A collection of letters relating to correspondence between people in Newport and Cleveland Ohio were the subject of a meeting of the Newport Historical Society in The Grainuaile, Newport recently.

A Cork man is researching the influx of Northern refugees into Mayo in 1795/6, known as the Diamond Flight (following the defeat of the Catholic Defenders at the Battle of the Diamond near Loughgall, Co Armagh).

The wren, the wren  The king of all birds  St Stephen’s Day,   Was caught in the furze  Up with the kettle and down with the pan  ...

A new book highlights the fact that Éamon de Valera’s first close friend outside Co Limerick was Frank Hughes of Kiltimagh. Both boys were enrolled at Blackrock College, and Ryan invited Dev to Co Mayo to spend Christmas 1899 with his family.

Stories, memories and folklore of County Mayo, recorded on tape cassettes, reel to reels or in digital form, are being sought as part of an exciting new project, recently launched by Mayo County Council.

Local history and heritage groups in County Mayo are being invited to access a new guide to help secure the future of their volunteer organisation.

There was a capacity crowd at the Lahardane Community Centre on Monday, August 12 last, to mark the official launch of the magnificent new book Addergoole, People and Culture - A Testament.

In 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, the Coastwatching Service was set up to monitor and record "belligerent activity" around the Irish coast.

A new book details the migration of families from Belmullet and Tourmakeady to Gibbstown in Co Meath almost 90 years ago.

There is a return to different generations living together in one house if we are to believe recent press reports. There is nothing new about this.

Arthur Muffeny lived to be 76 at a time when the average male life expectancy in Ireland was 52 years. At the age of 74, we find him clambering over the locked gate of his Ballina sawmills in the early hours after fire broke out within.

This Saturday sees the Mayo launch of a book that details the migration of families from Belmullet and Tourmakeady to Gibbstown in Co Meath more than 80 years ago.

It is many years since the Foróige club in Bonniconlon with their group leaders produced a parish history. There was a memorable account in it of a line of ass and carts wending their way to the mountain bogs.

Tadgh O'Leary had a preparatory school in Bofield from 1916 to 1928. This school was there to prepare the students from all over Ireland for the King’s Scholarship and the results were not too bad for those years.

Pictured holding a copy of the ESB/Bord na Móna history, Powering the West, is 107-year-old Michael Coyne who worked on the construction of the Bellacorick power station during the 1950s.

The digitisation of the Military Service Pensions Collection is a valuable source for local historians with an interest in the 1916 to 1923 period at parish level and, indeed, regional level.

One afternoon I took out my tape recorder and taped my grandmother as she recalled her memories of her childhood in the 1930s when she was a pupil in Bofield National School and lived in Ellemountain, a few miles from Bonniconlon.

JAMES MORRISSEY chronicles the life of the enigmatic Garech Browne who revitalised Irish traditional music in the 1960s by establishing Claddagh Records. 

JAMES REDDIOUGH meets Tommy Noone, proprietor of the Moy Hotel in Foxford, who reminisces about growing up in very different times. 

SINEAD MITCHELL-BRENNAN recounts the fascinating story of Bofeenaun-born Vincent Murray, whose sea-faring adventures more than a century ago made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. 

As the Western People marks its 140th anniversary, retired editor TERRY REILLY remembers the correspondents who kept readers updated on events Stateside.

The Christmas Crib still evokes a childhood sense of wonder, writes COLMÁN O RAGHALLAIGH.

TONY GALVIN reflects on a boyhood Christmas when he tried to persuade Santa of a last-minute change of heart.

SEAN HALLINAN takes a trip down memory lane as he describes the time-honoured Christmas traditions of yesteryear.

In bygone years, Christmas officially began in rural Ireland when the parcel arrived from America or England, writes PADRAIC NEARY.

William ‘Cinty’ Loftus was born in Graffy around 1881. He was a farmer and labourer who worked for Jack McGloin of Greyfort in Currower. He would often boast that Jack McGloin had “blue blood in his veins”.

During these weeks of county finals and All Ireland club championships, it is worth reflecting on the presence of the Gaelic Athletic Association in our culture.

The seventh edition of Clann Mhuiris, the annual journal of Claremorris Historical Society, will be published on Friday, November 17.

Well-known archaeologist Michael Gibbons will talk to Westport Civic Trust about ‘New Research Findings in the Uplands and Islands of County Mayo’ at 8pm this evening, Tuesday, November 14, in the Plaza Hotel, Westport.

My mind wanders back over the years to Ireland in the late 1980s and the Summer of 1987 to be exact. That year I was 19 years old and had just sat my Leaving Cert and was awaiting the results with some degree of trepidation.

A University of Galway academic and great-great-granddaughter of Andrew J. Kettle, one of the key figures in the Land War, has revived his first-hand account of the tumultuous period in Irish history.

In late October 1923, a letter was delivered to the home of Mrs Ellen McGrath in the heart of Ballina. It was no ordinary letter and the sort which no mother would ever wish to receive.

The Ox Mountains, it’s a title that sits easily with us and there is no doubt it is a name of substance but what are its origins? Where does the name come from and what does it mean?With the proliferation of sheep on the mountain in recent ...

I had fixed in thought to visit again the sources and inner flowings of the winding Moy. The weather being fit for going amid the mountains on foot and drive, I resolved to carry out my purpose.

Now that the Autumn is coming, it’s an appropriate time to consider some enjoyable activities for the many shorter evenings ahead.

Ferran Terrace is a well-known address in Ballina but most local people know little about the man after whom it is named. SINEAD MITCHELL-BRENNAN chronicles the eventful life and tragic death of Dr Francis P. Ferran.

In the Western People's Christmas edition of 1965, JOHN HEALY penned this heartwarming festive message to the many West of Ireland emigrants across the globe. This is the legendary Charlestown-born journalist at his inimitable best...

In an extract from his new book on the Famine in the Diocese of Killala, BRENDAN HOBAN provides a fascinating and heartbreaking snapshot of life in Crossmolina in the lead-up to Black '47.

MARY J MURPHY looks back on the summer of 2021 when a little bit of Hollywood came to Achill Island.

The night death came to Rathlacken On the night of October 28th, 1927, nine fishermen from Lacken were swept to their deaths in one of the worst storms to ever hit the west coast of Ireland. JAMES LAFFEY recounts the dramatic events of that tragic night.

Although Ireland’s history with its closest neighbours has often been fraught with tension and distrust, the primary resident at 10 Downing Street has often had strong ties to the island.

The season of goodwill didn't save Castlebar native TONY GALVIN from a Christmas morning slap.

On December 12, 1942, the front page of the Western People carried an eye-catching notice, set in bold type. The announcement alerted readers to a small, but welcome gesture, in times of great hardship.

Mayo lost one of its finest sons earlier this year whenJoe Kennedy passed away. In 2006, Joe sat down with Western People editor James Laffey for an interview that garnered a huge response from readers at home and abroad. We are pleased to reprint the interview in full as a tribute to the genial Doocastle man whose many kind deeds will never be forgotten in Mayo, Manchester and beyond.

Acclaimed journalist and broadcaster Tommie Gorman cut his teeth during an exciting and ultra-competitive time for the newspaper industry in Mayo. He chats to Keith Bourke about those memorable days in the late 1970s.

Like many people, I have a large collection of photographs, accumulated over many years from various sources, many of them dating back to my childhood and beyond.

A remarkable collection of items which belonged to one of Mayo’s greatest ever entrepreneurs and innovators is being painstakingly curated, writes Keith Bourke

Twenty-five years ago, the closure of Asahi in Killala brought an end to the north Mayo town’s place in the West’s industrial revolution that sprang up throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Majella Loftus delves into the archives to assess the impact of rural electrification in her native South Mayo in the mid-20th century.