An early Oireachtas addressed by Douglas Hyde. By kind permission of Aidan Heavey Library

With the success of the Gaelic League and on Achill coupled with the widely attended St Partrick’s Day celebrations and Feis Acla, it was only a matter of time before Emily Weddall and the other Achill Gaelic League members were to expand their endeavors to a bigger and far reaching cultural event. At that time there was a growing number of Irish Language festivals, classes and schools throughout the country. The Gaelic League head an annual event called the Oireachtais, where members from the four corners of Ireland could attend.

The event enabled native speakers and learners of Irish to meet and interact in a social, festive environment, resulting in many long standing friendships and even the occasional romance!

http://www.antoireachtas.ie/history.php

Oireachtas Prizes from 1914. Achill Knitwear sponsored a prize

Emily possibly attended the Oireachtais from 1908 onwards. Taking inspiration from it, she and the other Gaelic League members got ideas for their own festivals. The seed of the idea for Scoil Acla evolved from there.

The exact date of the first Scoil Acla is unclear. The Centenery was celebrated in 2010, rounding it up a little, but it may have been 1911 that the first officially named Scoil Acla took place. The seeds of the first summer school were sown as far back as 1910, where an auspicious event took place on Achill. There was a big breakthrough when Irish, as a subject was to be introduced at university level in Ireland. This was a monumental achievement for the Gaelic League at the time. Emily’s letter to the Claidheamh Soluis certainly expresses her elation at the news. She and a small group including two young Gaels form Munster, Giallabride O’Caithain, and Cormac O’Cadhlaigh, who were staying in her house in Keel, had celebrated in their unique way!

How the News Came to Achill

On the evening of Sunday, June 26th they insisted in carrying the great news to the top of Croughan Mountain. There on the highest summit we planted the official announcement of the victory while the skirl of O’Cathain’s pipes we built an air over it and before coming down we lit a beacon light that could be seen away in Galway or northward in Donegal…

She wrote this letter in June of 1910, by March 1911 the Hall, which would hold the original Scoil Acla summer school and was underway. The building would be finished  just in time for the Feis Acla of 1911, a few months later. In the letter she alluded to the future Scoil Acla;

…Now we are building a Gaelic Hall. There is no limit to our ambition. Nothing will satisfy us now but an Irish summer school of our own, not a college. We have faithfully promised Partry and Spiddal that they may exist at least another summer. A hedge school will satisfy us. The country is full of Irish, the scenery is glorious, the accommodation is ample; Teacht Gaedhilge will be finished; one of the best teachers in the Gaelic League will be available, our own muinteoir will help him if necessary. We will be able to offer our visitors lectures on old and middle Irish as well. If twenty students are forthcoming the thing can be done. May I call on the friends of Gaelic to come down and help us to over run the land. Pipers, fiddlers, dancers, singers will of course, be very welcome, but we want above all the earnest students of Irish, the enthusiasts to come to our assistance.

Croughan Mountain (with Corrymore House) where Emily and friends may have had the idea for Scoil Acla

Thanks to: Gearoid O’Brien at Aidan Heavy Library, Athlone.

Sources

An Cliamheadh Soluis; March 4th 1911. P 4

An Cliamheadh Soluis; 16th July 1910. P3

http://www.antoireachtas.ie/history.php

The first time St. Patrick’s Day was introduced as a national holiday was in 1903. When Emily arrived back in Ireland in 1906, the holiday was in its infancy. There were no parades as such, pubs were closed as it was a holy day, and people celebrated mostly by attending church. But in Achill that was not the case. It might have been a sober day but it did not prevent the festival atmosphere. An article that appeared in the Mayo News on March 30th 1907:

La Fheile Padraig in Dooagh!
Concert and Play a Magnificent Success!
St. Patrick’s Day was fittingly celebrated in Dooagh. In the early morning a large procession headed by the village band and waving some beautiful banners marched to the chapel playing national airs all along the route. Mass was celebrated by Rev. D. Greeney CC, who preached an eloquent sermon on the life and mission of our National apostle. The Acts as well as the Rosary were recited in Irish. In the evening the venue was Dooagh National school where an Irish Ireland concert and play was met with almost unbounded success notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather.!

The unprecedented success of the entertainment was chiefly if not wholly, due to the energy activity and perseverance of Mrs. Weddall, Miss McWilliams, Miss Grey, Miss McCabe, the Misses Callaghans and a host of other ladies, upon who it reflected great credit. To them and to their lieutenant all the Irish Irelanders of the parish extended the most heartfelt thanks and trust their net endeavor in that direction will be more successful still. The committee in charge of the arrangements are deeply indebted to Mr McGreevey, Balla and Mr Fitzhenry, League organiser for their kindness in lending scenery and other decorations.!

The success of St. Patrick’s day led on to other Irish cultural festivals on the Island, especially “Under the auspices of the Gaelic League”. Emily and/or other members of the local branch of the League did the fundraising and organised them at various locations and times of the year. It was also the early days of tourism and such events attracted the people who attended cultural events.

A Gaelic League event advertised in the Cliadheamh Soulis in 1907

Sources

Mayo News, March 30 1907. Page 4

http://www.nli.ie/1916/pdf/3.4.2.pdf

http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/All-the-pubs-in-Ireland-used-to-be-closed-on-St-Patricks-Day.html

Cliadheamh Soulis 7 June 1907. P 7

Rockfield House, Keel, where Emily set up home with her husband

Emily Weddall moved to Achill Island  in 1906 with her husband retired sea captain, Edward Weddall, whose compromised health, due to a tropical disease benefited from the fresh sea air.  Emily acquired Rockfield house, which once was a mission school in the 1840’s/50’s through connections established by her late father William John Burke who spent some time on Achill in the 1840’s.

Emily who was concerned mostly with the care of her husband, made time to indulge her passion and love of the Irish language and culture. A woman of means she had the resources and the drive to get involved in the beginning of the cultural revival on Achill. She naturally gravitated towards people who shared her interest and they to her. She joined forces with the local Parish Priest, Fr J Connolly and Seaghan Mac Enrigh, who had previously campaigned for the reintroduction of Irish in the schools and classes for children and adults alike.

Emily was already a member of the Gaelic League, which she joined when she returned to Ireland in 1906. and teamed up with Fr Connolly to form a local branch Grainne Mhoal (named after the pirate queen Grace O’Malley) in 1907/08. Over the next few years the people that would be pivotal to the revival would converge to make Achill, making it a hub for the Irish language and cultural revival.

The magazine produced by the Gaelic League, to which Emily was a frequent correspondent