Killawalla or Killavally () is a village located 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 ...

, seven miles (10 km) from Westport on the R330 road to

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 2016 census, the population was 2,786. History Foundation and development Ballinrobe is con ...

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

is alleged to have passed this way en route to

Croagh Patrick Croagh Patrick (), nicknamed 'the Reek', is a mountain with a height of and an important site of pilgrimage in County Mayo, Ireland. The mountain has a pyramid-shaped peak and overlooks Clew Bay, rising above the village of Murrisk, several mil ...

, and accordingly the local Catholic church is named after him. The village also contains a primary school and MacEvilly's pub established in 1968. The village post office closed in 2017. Killawalla is part of the parish of

Carnacon Carnacon or Carrownacon () is a village, townland and area in central County Mayo, Ireland. It is situated about from Castlebar, and is about from Claremorris and Ballinrobe. Village Carnacon is situated on the shores of a mayfly fishing lake, ...

and

Ballintubber Ballintubber, officially Ballintober (), is a village in County Mayo, Ireland, known for Ballintubber Abbey which was founded in 1216. The countryside of Ballintubber is set against the against the backdrop of the Partry Mountains. History Th ...

. Research carried out by NUI Maynooth showed Killawalla to have sustained the biggest population loss of any village in Ireland during the Great Famine. Between 1841 and 1851, the village lost two thirds of its population.
Mayo News 9 Aug 2011 "Killawalla had famine's biggest population drop" The 1916 rising participant and sport administrator

Seán O'Duffy Seán O'Duffy (; 1886 – 20 October 1981) was an Irish sports administrator. For 40 years, he was heavily involved in the development of camogie in Ireland; coordinating it on a national level. O'Duffy's contributions to camogie have been widely ...

who was heavily involved in the development of

camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

in Ireland for 40 years, was born in the old barracks in Killawalla in 1886 according to a plaque erected on the wall of the school. This RIC barracks located in Kinury was one of those closed in the wake of the

Tourmakeady ambush The Tourmakeady Ambush or Battle of Tourmakeady occurred on 3 May 1921 during the Irish War of Independence. The South Mayo Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), commanded by Commandant Tom Maguire ambushed an RIC/Black and Tan re-supp ...

during the Irish War of Independence in May of 1921. Killawalla is also home to

Pollatoomary Pollatoomary is the deepest explored underwater cave in Ireland. It has been explored to an underwater depth of . The explored limit of Pollatoomary is also deeper underwater than that of the terminal Sump (cave), sump in Wookey Hole Caves in So ...

cave, the deepest explored underwater cave in Britain and Ireland. The cave has been explored to a depth of 113 m in June 2018 by

Michal Marek Michal (; he, מיכל , gr, Μιχάλ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, ...

. This dive surpassed the previous record of 108 m also set here by Artur Kozłowski in 2008. The entrance to the cave is located in the townland of Ballyburke on private land.

References

{{County Mayo Towns and villages in County Mayo