A recently published history of the Belmullet peninsula offers a fascinating glimpse of life on the most peripheral of peripheries, but also an unusual perspective on more contemporary controversies. Within the Mullet by Ms Rita Nolan gives a detailed account of whaling on the peninsula during the early years of the century. It offers much food for thought in the present dispute over Irish proposals for the reintroduction of limited whaling.
In 1910 a bitter controversy developed when a group of Norwegian whalers planned to open a whaling station at Blacksod. Two landlords, Mayo County Council and the Blacksod Railway Company, voiced strong objections.
One of the landlords expressed his concern about the smell from the whaling station, while Mr Henry Richards said "his" oyster and mussel beds might be contaminated by offal.
The directors of the railroad company were worried about the effects the whaling might have on visitors to the new hotel they planned to build in Belmullet.
Some priests also spoke out against the project, but the locals were "enthusiastically in favour," according to Ms Nolan. "For the first time in their lives they had the prospect of employment and a steady wage," she writes.
The controversy reached a climax when a crew member from a whaling ship based on Arranmore was taken to Belmullet infirmary. The rumour spread that he had beri-beri, and some councillors accused the Norwegians of spreading plague. The unfortunate sailor later died of heart disease.
Despite the objections, Blacksod Whaling Company opened the following year. Its best year was 1914, when 89 whales were brought ashore.
"But when war broke out later that year the Admiralty ordered that all British fishing vessels must have British crews. The crews of the whaling ships were all Norwegian, so this put an end to whaling around these islands for the duration of the war."
After the war the station fell upon hard times, with operational difficulties and warnings from the authorities that the company was not to land arms. Its most productive year was 1920, when 125 whales were caught and 3,995 barrels of oil produced.
In 1923, however, the station was burned down and with it went the jobs of 100 men. The finger was pointed at three local men who had been refused employment.
Ms Nolan's history contains many interesting anecdotes about changes in social behaviour and attitudes at the time.
The parish priest in Belmullet from 1919 to 1934 was Father Dodd, who seems to have been little loved. "He had a firm conviction that he himself was a member of the new Ascendancy and had adopted some of the old feudal trappings and customs," she writes.
"When the teachers of the parish had occasion to visit the Parochial House to discuss school matters or have documents signed, they were expected to go to the back door - and they did."