Meath launch for book on Dhulough, once Ireland’s largest sheep farm

Descendants of families who left the west for Meath and the east may find a powerful connection in a new book that traces one of Ireland’s most ambitious farming experiments – and the mass migration it set in motion.

'Seventy Years in the Wild West', by former Teagasc agricultural adviser Sean Cadden, tells the remarkable story of Dhulough Farm in southwest Mayo – once Ireland’s largest sheep farms, stretching across 45,000 acres between Louisburgh and Leenane. Established in the aftermath of the Great Famine, the project displaced hundreds of tenant families, many of whom would eventually make their way eastward in search of better land and livelihoods.

The post-Famine decade 1851–1861 was a cruel period for many small hill farmers who had survived the Great Hunger. The Marquis of Sligo and the Earl of Lucan evicted 44 townlands in southwest Mayo. Captain William Houstoun leased 37 of those townlands to assemble Dhulough Farm, the largest farm in Ireland. John Louden leased the remaining seven townlands to create Killary Farm.

The captain imported Scotch Blackface sheep and introduced a hill farming system based on this sheep breed. That farming system survived for 120 years and has been difficult to replace. By the early 1900s, government intervention led to the break-up of the estate, allowing some descendants of the original tenants to reclaim their ancestral land. Yet for many, the journey eastward became permanent — their descendants now part of Meath’s own rural story.

A County Meath launch of the book will take place on Thursday 13th November at 7.30pm in the Stockhouse Restaurant, Trim, with local historian Noel French. The author will discuss the social and agricultural impact of Dhulough, including the state-backed migration schemes that resettled western families across Meath, Kildare, and beyond.

Drawing on his deep agricultural expertise, Cadden explores how Scottish farming systems were transplanted to the Mayo hills — and how that experiment reshaped lives far beyond Connacht. The book weaves together farming innovation, social upheaval, and family history, offering insights into both the successes and human costs of this unique enterprise.

Richly illustrated and carefully researched, Seventy Years in the Wild West combines local history, genealogy, and agricultural insight. It’s a story that speaks to anyone whose family once made that journey from the west to the fertile fields of the east. Available now from Mayo Books Press at www.mayobooks.ie.