Michael Davitt Hero of Foxford and of the Irish Land League
Maggie Pashley and I run a healing Centre and Airbnb in Foxford in County Mayo, in the beautiful far West of Ireland. See:
There are five museums nearby. One of them is the deeply moving and utterly caringly presented Michael Davitt Museum, Straide, Foxford.
Michael Davitt became a saviour of the Irish People. He worked to secure Land Rights for ordinary Irish people whose generations had been trashed by English Ascendancy Class Landlordism.
His formative experience was being evicted when he was age four and a half, because his family had fallen into arrears of rent due to the prolonged Famine. They lived in a farm workers’ ‘cabin’ in Straide in County Mayo, just a few miles from Foxford.
Agents for the English Landlord turned up and the family were put outside and they watched helplessly as the thatched roof was set fire to, then the walls demolished, so that they could not re-enter.
The family then walked to road to the Poor House at Swinford, seeing many piteous sights on the roadside on the way of people dead and dying and reduced to disaster by having to live in the fields.
When they arrived at the Work House, the family were told that as Michael was four, he was too old to be in the same room as his mother, as the sexes were segregated from age three years.
His mother declared that she would not be separated from her son, and that she would rather live by the side of the road.
They went by foot to Lancashire in England, and as soon as young Michael was old enough he had to work 12 hours a day to help support the family who were lodging with fifteen tenants in a terraced house.
Disaster struck when Michael was aged 12 and he lost his arm in mill machinery.
However, great opportunity arrived. A philanthropist paid for four year education for the devastated boy. Michael went on to become an Irish MP at Westminster where he met Mahatma Gandhi and Michael brought methods of non-violent resistance to Ireland to fight for the Irish dispossessed at the hands of their English Ascendancy Class Landlords.
We look forward to seeing you,
Michael Conneely
MICHAEL DAVITT MUSEUM/STRAIDE ABBEY
HISTORICAL
Irish history - Michael Davitt, A Founding Father Of Modern Irish Democracy? - [45 mins radio doc]
This 45 minute radio documentary is named
Mayo’s Greatest Son- Michael Davitt, A Founding Father Of Modern Irish Democracy?
Theme of documentary-
Ask most people to mention the top ten leaders in the fifty year period leading up to Irish independence in 1922 and you’ll inevitably hear names such as Michael Collins, James Connolly and Padraig Pearse (to name but a few). However, few if any people will mention the name Michael Davitt. Yet without him, Ireland would never have gained her freedom so early.
Nearly half a century before Mahatma Gandhi preached non-violent resistance to the Indian people, Davitt helped to establish the Irish Land League, a movement of mass peaceful protest which destroyed the elitist Irish landlord system and gave the land of Ireland back to Irish tenant farmers. It also helped to give Irish people the necessary economic freedom to eventually achieve political freedom a generation later.
This documentary investigates Davitt’s key role in helping to create the right conditions for that later generation of Irish people to deliver Irish political freedom in 1922.
* To be downloaded for non-profit purposes only, in adherence with the universal truth- “What you do for yourself dies with you, what you do for others remains. It is immortal.”
Michael Davitt: Ireland'sOne-Armed Patriot
National History Day 2009
michael davitt
Cruncher singing Michael Davitt acapella...
Route Millennia Mayo
A spectacular driving and touring route linking six unique visitor experiences across 6,000 years of history and culture
Route Millennia connects the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life at Turlough Park, Castlebar, to the world famous Céide Fields in Ballycastle, via the Michael Davitt Museum, Straide, Foxford Woollen Mills, Jackie Clarke Collection, Ballina, and Belleek Visitor Centre at Belleek Castle. Sample Neolithic structures, medieval armoury, 1916 and Civil War artefacts. Visit a working mill, Ireland’s National Folklife Collection and the grave of one of Ireland’s greatest patriots. All of this and more is waiting to be discovered on Mayo’s Route Millennia.
Suitable for self-driving and coach tours. Speak to any of our sites about activities for primary and secondary school tours.
routemillennia.com
Michael Davitt - Radacach | Ag Teacht 29 Bealtaine | TG4
Is féidir cur síos a dhéanamh ar shaol Davitt (1846-1906) agus ar Éirinn i rith na mblianta sin ar an dóigh céanna: turas a bhí ann ó bhochtaineacht agus eisimirce, go dínit, agus cumhacht pholaitiúil agus eacnamaíoch.
The trajectory of Michael Davitt's life matched that of Ireland during his 60-year span (1846-1906) - a journey from poverty and emigration, towards dignity, and political and economic power.
Absolute Freedom & Independence : The Genius Of Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt was one of Ireland's greatest leaders and change-makers, though he often fails to get the recognition he deserves.
His vision for Ireland was 'absolute freedom and independence' and he remained true to his convictions throughout his life.
Coming from Mayo, location of the annual Doolough Famine Walk, Davitt has always been an inspirational figure for Afri's work.
The 1996 Famine Walk was a celebration of Davitt and the Land League and was led by his grand daughter Gráinne Davitt, Marciana Funez and Christy Moore.
The Story of a Celtic Man - Michael Davitt
The Story of a Celtic Man - Michael Davitt
This is where we meet
Every Friday morning after collecting their pension's the bachelor farmers of the area around the small rural town of Foxford come to Guirys pub for a few pints. It is here they meet and chat. Most spend their time alone and isolated on their farms. These are the few hours they mix socially. I joined them for six weeks and this is their story.
The 'Bachelor farmer' is a residual effect of the great famine of the 1840's. A victim of social pathologies which affect both their farming and their social and personal life in negative ways. In order to prevent the farm being divided up into smaller holdings, the eldest son inherited everything. Other son's we're prevented from marrying until middle age or older in order for them to work on the farm and it was very common for them not to marry at all. The result is a strata of marginalized men.
The faces in this work are from a troubled but in many ways innocent generation. They are faces that are vanishing from Ireland.
Music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
St Brigids GAC v Michael Davitts May 7th 2014
Andy Duffy Goal V MICHAEL DAVITTS May 7th 2014
Celtic songs - Michael Davitt - The Story Of A Celtic Man
Michael Davitt, The Story Of A Celtic Man. Song taken from Foxybhoy's (Mike Fox) latest Album 'Don't Forget To Remember'
FREE CD AT FOXYBHOY.COM
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Singer Michael Davitt
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