Toormakeady or Tourmakeady (, the official name) is a

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

in south

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

in the west of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is located between the shores of

Lough Mask Lough Mask () is a limestone lake of about in Counties Mayo and Galway, Ireland, north of Lough Corrib. Lough Mask is the middle of the three lakes, which empty into the Corrib River, through Galway, into Galway Bay. Lough Carra flows into ...

and the

Partry Mountains The Partry Mountains () is a mountain range in western Connacht, Ireland. It is in an area known as Joyce Country, Partry, on the borders of County Mayo and County Galway. The mountains stand between Lough Mask (to the northeast), Lough Corrib ...

, and covers . As at the time of the 2011 census, Toormakeady had a total population of 1,007, having dropped from 1,150 in 1991. Toormakeady is also the name of the principal village in the area. Those parts of Ballinchalla Electoral District in Toormakeady and the whole of the Owenbrin Electoral District in Toormakeady together comprise nearly half of the land area of Toormakeady and were previously parts of County Galway. In 1898 they were transferred to County Mayo. From the time of the Great Famine of the mid-1840s onwards, the Toormakeady area has experienced a high level of emigration. Many descendants of emigrants return every year to find their roots. The genealogical records for this area have been computerised at the South Mayo Family Research Centre in nearby

Ballinrobe Ballinrobe () is a town in County Mayo in Ireland. It is located on the River Robe, which empties into Lough Mask two kilometres to the west. As of the 2022 census, the population was 3,148. The town is in a civil parish of the same name. Hist ...

to make the task of tracing roots easier. On 3 May 1921, during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

south Mayo

flying column A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ''ad hoc'' unit, formed during the course of operations. The term is usually, though not necessarily, appl ...

of around 30 men together with a small number of men from east Mayo mounted an ambush at Toormakeady. The events of this day have been written about in Donal Buckley's book ''The Battle of Tourmakeady''. The English actor Robert Shaw, best known for his work in '' From Russia with Love'', '' Jaws'' and ''

The Sting ''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film. Set in 1936, it involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw). The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had dir ...

'', lived in Drimbawn House, Toormakeady until his death in 1978. Television producer Máire Ní Thuathail was born in Toormakeady in 1959. The local sport clubs in Toormakeady include, CLG Thuar Mhic Éadaigh and Partry Athletic Football Club.

References

External links

Toormakeady website Toormakeady Community websiteAudio podcast
excerpt from Michael John Casey's Heritage Tour of Toormakeady. {{Authority control Gaeltacht places in County Mayo Towns and villages in County Mayo Gaeltacht towns and villages Waterfalls of the Republic of Ireland

See also

References

External links