Overview
On 20 April 1879 roughly 8,000 people converged on a village of fewer than 200, and the meeting they held set the National Land League in motion. That is Irishtown’s claim, and it is a large one for a quiet crossroads on the R328 halfway between Claremorris and Tuam, straddling the Mayo–Galway border. Be clear about what’s here now, though: a plaque, a pub, a church and a lot of farmland. You come for what happened, not for what you can walk around.
The name
The Irish name An Baile Gaelach means simply ‘The Irish Town’. It dates to the 17th century: when English settlers established a new town nearby, the native Irish population kept living in the adjoining settlement, which became known as the ‘Irish town’. The name stuck.
The Land League meeting
Tenant farmers on the estate of the Very Rev. Geoffrey Canon Burke were facing eviction over arrears while Burke pushed to raise rents further. They turned to James Daly, editor of the Connaught Telegraph and a known advocate for tenant rights, who organised a mass protest meeting despite warnings from the Catholic hierarchy not to attend.
The turnout was extraordinary – around 8,000 people, one of the largest demonstrations in Ireland since Daniel O’Connell. Daly’s own account describes a ‘monster procession’ from Claremorris: thousands on foot, tenant-farmers on horseback, hundreds of carriages, participants wearing green ribbons and laurel leaves to mark their districts while marshals carried green and gold sashes. The immediate result was a reversal of the evictions and a 20% rent cut. The lasting result was bigger – the gathering became the direct catalyst for the Irish National Land League, founded later that year.
A plaque at the village entrance marks it: ‘Cradle of Land League. Site of Tenant Right Meeting of 20 April 1879 which led to foundation of The National Land League.’ It is the one thing every visitor should find.
Schools, church and community
Irishtown valued learning long before 1879. The area had two early Bardic schools, at Poll Chormaic (Leface) and Poll Dumh (Lisduff), teaching poetry, music and Gaelic literature – institutions that predated the hedge schools later common across Mayo. Separate boys’ and girls’ schools opened in 1873 in the old priests’ house; the present national school was built in 1897 and renovated in 1983, and it still teaches local children.
Day-to-day life turns on the church, a corner shop, a traditional pub and a well-kept community centre, with a playground and playing fields renovated in 2010.
Sport
Gaelic football is the local game. In 1973 Irishtown joined neighbouring Ballindine to form Davitts GAA club, which took the Mayo Intermediate Football Championship in 1981 and again in 2011, following the 2011 county title with a Connacht Intermediate Championship. Match days still draw supporters from across east Mayo and south Galway.
Walking and the river
The Dalgan River runs nearby, crossed by the R328 at Doonmacreena Bridge, and works as a trout fishery and habitat for waterfowl and waders. There are no waymarked long-distance trails starting in the village itself – short, informal walks along the R328 and the surrounding lanes are about the size of it, and Claremorris and Tuam are the places to go for structured routes and the shores of Lough Corrib.
Practical information
- Getting there: the R328 connects directly to the N17. Galway City is about 45 minutes away, Castlebar about 30 minutes north.
- Public transport: regional bus services link east Mayo with Galway and Castlebar, but check current timetables with Bus Éireann first – rural services thin out at weekends.
- Parking: free roadside parking along the main street and near the community centre.
- Food and beds: no hotels in the village. Most visitors stay in Claremorris or Tuam. The local pub is the best place to fall into conversation about the area’s history.
If you want the story behind the plaque rather than just the wording, the pub is where to ask – this is a village that knows exactly what it started.