Page "Achill Island" Paragraph 16

The historic Valley House is located in The Valley, near Dugort in the north-east of Achill Island.

The present building sits on the site of a hunting lodge built by the Earl of Cavan in the 19th century.

Its notoriety arises from an incident in 1894 in which the then owner, an English landlady named Agnes McDonnell, was savagely beaten and the house set alight, allegedly by a local man, James Lynchehaun.

Lynchehaun had been employed by McDonnell as her land agent, but the two fell out and he was sacked and told to quit his accommodation on her estate.

A lengthy legal battle ensued, with Lynchehaun refusing to leave.

At the time, in the 1890s, the issue of land ownership in Ireland was politically charged, and after the events at the Valley House in 1894 Lynchehaun was to claim that his actions were motivated by politics.

He escaped custody and fled to the United States, where he successfully defeated legal attempts by the British authorities to have him extradited to face charges arising from the attack and the burning of the Valley House.

Agnes McDonnell suffered terrible injuries from the attack but survived and lived for another 23 years, dying in 1923.

Lynchehaun is said to have returned to Achill on two occasions, once in disguise as an American tourist, and eventually died in Girvan, Scotland, in 1937.

The Valley House is now a hostel and bar offering accommodation and pitch and putt golf facilities.