Historic county of Ireland
Mayo
County of Mayo
Province: Connacht
Atlantic bays and mountains west, broad inland country east.
Mayo occupies a great sweep of Ireland’s western seaboard. Around Clew Bay, mountain country descends almost directly to the Atlantic and islands continue the same rugged geography offshore. Northwards lie extensive coastal and blanket-bog landscapes.
Eastwards the terrain gradually opens into broader and gentler inland country. Mayo’s defining idea is therefore transition: an exceptionally broken Atlantic edge of mountain, island and bay giving way to the more open landscapes of inland Connacht.
- Connacht and pilgrimage country
- County by the 16th century
- Clew Bay, Achill and Croagh Patrick
- Named from the yew plain
County geography
Clew Bay
Clew Bay is one of Mayo’s defining landscapes: an intricate drowned terrain filled with islands and enclosed by mountain country.
It concentrates many of the county’s characteristic elements — sea, island, mountain and deeply indented shore — within one remarkable waterscape.
Atlantic islands and peninsulas
Mayo’s western geography does not stop at the mainland shore.
Islands and projecting coastal districts extend the county into the Atlantic and reinforce the maritime character of its western half.
Bog, limestone and inland country
The county contains a strong internal contrast between extensive bog and poorer upland country in the north and west and broader limestone and agricultural landscapes elsewhere.
Mayo is therefore considerably more varied than the familiar image of a uniformly rugged western county suggests.
County questions
Questions about Mayo
Is Achill part of Mayo?
Yes. Achill forms part of geographic Mayo and is one of the county’s major Atlantic island landscapes.
Is Mayo one of Ireland’s largest counties?
Yes. Mayo is the third-largest of Ireland’s 32 geographic counties by area.
County record
Names and continuity
- Formal name
- County Mayo
- Province
- Connacht
- Alternative name
- County of Mayo
Mayo is one of the five geographic counties of Connacht. Atlantic coast, island country, bog and broad inland plain together give its large territory a coherent west-to-east progression.