Fallmore

Situated in the southern part of the Mullet Peninsula within the barony of Erris, Fallmore townland spans approximately 704 acres (2.84 km²) and, as of 2011, had a population of 75 people. Fallmore townland also encompasses the village of Blacksod.

Fallmore An Fál Mór Faulmore
Townland
St. Dairbhile's Church, Fallmore
Fallmore Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 54°05′42″N 10°05′10″W / 54.0949°N 10.0860°W / 54.0949; -10.0860
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Mayo
Area
• Total	2.84 km2 (703.9 acres)
Population  (2011)
• Total	75
• Density	26/km2 (68/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
As this is a Gaeltacht village, An Fál Mór is the only official name. The anglicised spellings Fallmore and Faulmore have no official status.

 

Early history

The townland contains medieval settlement such as at Saint Dairbhile's Church, a National Monument, dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries. The church exhibits distinct architectural features: the western section showcases polygonal masonry with granite blocks firmly cemented, while the eastern gable displays regular layers with a shallow pitch. Recent excavations uncovered the foundation of the older gable and part of its window frame.

Although not originally associated with Killala, this site is documented among "mensal" properties from the 11th and 12th centuries. The church was named after the anchoress Dairbhile (575–600) who resided here in the 6th century and was known for her attendance at significant religious gatherings, including one in Ballisidare, County Sligo, in 585 AD, where she met Saint Columcille. This location served as a place of worship from the 12th century onward. Saint Dairbhile's remains are interred here according to tradition.

The church's dimensions measure 47 feet 9 inches on the south, 47 feet on the north, with the east gable measuring 21 feet 10 inches and the west gable 22 feet externally. The former is 3 feet thick, and the latter is 2 feet 9 inches thick. Situated atop a knoll overlooking a sandy beach and an ancient, densely populated cemetery, legend has it that passing through the window three times ensures safety from drowning. The current ruins likely date back to the twelfth century, possibly replacing or integrating an earlier building. Saint Dairbhile's Well, which is located not far from the Church is a holy well, with a pilgrimage taking place annually on August 15th.

Rundale system

In the early nineteenth century, Erris communities commonly practiced communal land ownership in the form of Rundale, redistributing plots through periodic lot drawings. The community followed a common crop rotation plan: one field for potatoes this year, another for grain. In an 1836 book, Patrick Knight, the engineer who planned and supervised the building of the town of Belmullet for William Carter, one of Erris's two principal landlords, describes a three-year rotation. However, Knight mentions only two crops, so a third field lay fallow, gathering strength for the next year's crop.

In Knight's time, the landscape of Fallmore consisted of larger, open fields owned collectively by entire villages. Families held individual plots within these fields, but boundaries were less defined. In contrast, today's Fallmore features mostly smaller, privately owned fields separated by clear boundaries like earthen walls or barbed wire fences. The tradition of the communal pasture persisted until the beginning of the 1980s, at which point the Land Commission partitioned a large proportion of the agricultural land in the village into separate parcels. However, much of Fallmore is still managed as unfenced commonage and is in better ecological condition than the other sections which has been fenced and used more intensively.

Mass evictions

Fallmore was host to a notable instance of post-Famine clearance, documented through the actions of clergyman William Palmer in 1857. Purchasing the neighbouring townlands of Termon and Fallmore, Palmer initiated a process of reorganising the land, from Rundale into a more efficient system, through striping, resettlement and eviction.

Records from valuation documents indicate a plan to clear the land by the following year, with subsequent entries detailing the eviction proceedings, leading to the removal of 30 tenants by 1860, leaving 11 names on the list. Despite the eviction, many individuals remained, constructing makeshift shelters, absent from taxation records due to their impermanence. An account by correspondent Henry Coulter in January 1862 described the conditions observed:

...that is the position of the inhabitants of Fallmore, a small village at the extreme southern point of the island, the property of an English clergyman named Palmer, who some two years ago evicted nearly half the village... I thought it would be difficult to find another community exceeding in wretchedness of appearance the village of Fallmore; but I had not proceeded far when my attention was directed to a collection of hovels such as I should think is not to be found elsewhere in Ireland. These were the abodes built by some of the persons evicted from Fallmore. They are composed of large pieces of granite found on the beach and rudely placed together. The roofs are very nearly flat, and each hovel is so low that an ordinary man cannot stand upright in it, and so small, that it can hardly contain three or four persons at the same time... These people cultivate half an acre or so of poor and sandy soil, from which they have obtained a sufficient quantity of potatoes to last them for another month or so; but when these are exhausted, I do not know how they are to exist, for they do not appear to have any stock, and I am sure they have no money.

— Henry Coulter, The West of Ireland: Its Existing Condition and Prospects (Dublin, 1862), pp. 217-220

 

Shaped by the Atlantic Ocean, the landscape is characterised by blown sand and a scarcity of trees due to its exposed location. Predominantly consisting of metamorphic schist and gneiss bedrock, the townland contains diverse coastal and marine habitats. The area contains an extensive amount of fixed dunes, with hilly Machair present at the south end of Fallmore. The tallest point in Fallmore is at Termon Hill which has an elevation of 103m.

Special Areas of Conservation and Protection

Portions of the townland form part of the Mullet/ Blacksod Bay Special Area of Conservation. Situated in north-west County Mayo, this coastal area encompasses the majority of the Mullet Peninsula, alongside the protected waters of Blacksod Bay and the sandy coastline.

Local reports indicate that sand dune habitats in the area were significantly damaged by overgrazing in the mid-twentieth century, leading to bare sand areas and sand mobility issues. However, a change in land management practices, with the division of land into individual parcels, allowed vegetation cover to regenerate, reducing bare ground in fixed dunes. Despite some negative effects of intensified agriculture, this shift has generally benefited conservation efforts. Local landowners demonstrate awareness of erosion threats, implementing sand trapping measures in small blowouts, partly caused by cattle effects on the habitat. Stabilisation materials sourced locally mimic pioneer vegetation, although a few instances of using unsuitable materials exist. Nonetheless, the current level of bare sand in the dunes is sufficient to maintain habitat diversity.

A variety of wintering birds are present, including the Brent Goose and Ringed Plover. Additionally, six other species hold national importance: Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Grey Plover, Knot, Sanderling, and Dunlin. Fallmore also supports a population of Corn crake (5 pairs as of 2005/6).

• Blacksod Bay
• List of Saints of Ireland