Acaill Bheag (Achillbeg) is a small island in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") 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 Conn ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, just off the southern tip of

Achill Island Achill Island (; ga, Acaill, Oileán Acla) in County Mayo is the largest of the Irish isles, and is situated off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It has a population of 2,594. Its area is . Achill is attached to the mainland by ...

Etymology

Its name means ''Little Achill''.

History

Acaill Bheag was evacuated in 1965 and the inhabitants were settled on the main (Achill) island and nearby mainland. The main settlement was in the centre of the island, bounded by two hills to the north and south. There are a small number of holiday homes on the island, but they are usually empty for most of the year. Access to the island is from ''Cé Mhór'', in the village of ''An Chloich Mhór'' (Cloghmore), by local arrangement. A

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

on Acaill Bheag's southern tip was completed in 1965. A comprehensive book about the life and times of the island and the people and way of life there, "Achillbeg - The Life of an Island", by

Jonathan Beaumont Jonathan Beaumont is an author of a number of books on Irish interest. He also works as a tour guide. ''Rails to Achill'' (2001) describes the history of the Westport to Achill railway, which ran from 1894 to 1937.''Achillbeg: The Life of an Isla ...

was published in 2005. The Irish artist Pete Hogan wrote a book about his time spent living on the island in 1983, ''The Artist on the Island: An Achill Journal'' which was published in 2013.

Demographics

The table below reports data on Achillbeg's population taken from ''Discover the Islands of Ireland'' (1999) and the

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of Ireland.

References

{{Authority control Islands of County Mayo Ghost towns in Europe Villages in Achill Island Achill Island