Dugort (Irish: Dumha Goirt, meaning 'sandbank of the field'),[1] sometimes spelled Doogort, is a historical village on Achill Island in County Mayo, Ireland.

[3] Dugort is the site of the 19th century planned Church of Ireland mission overseen by Reverend Edward Nangle.

It was part of a wider movement by evangelicals to convert Catholics in the West of Ireland to the Protestant faith.

They aimed to be self-sufficient but relied heavily on voluntary subscriptions from Protestants in Ireland and abroad.

[4] A monthly journal began in 1837 called the Achill Missionary Herald, which was the main form of communication for the Mission with Protestants in Ireland and abroad.

[4] The Mission received a considerable amount of abuse and intimidation from the Roman Catholic Church and many of its adherents.

A number of new houses were built to accommodate the growing population of people who were living in Dugort and supporting the Mission.

[4] After a failure of the potato crop in 1838, an appeal for funds was made by the Mission for relief of distress in Achill.

This money was used to carry out a number of improvements on the island which included an excellent cart road which was 21 feet wide, a few hundred perches of drains were laid, about 100 perches of roads were repaired, cottages on the settlement were repaired, 12 English acres of land were reclaimed and a bridge was erected.

As result of the missionary settlement in Dugort a post office was opened which led to better communications to and from the Island.

Many believed their potatoes were clear of this disease but when the pits were opened in February and March it was evident that the rot was widespread.

Edward Nangle wrote in the Achill Herald in May 1846 that they would undertake to feed all the children in attendance at their schools.

The Achill Herald reported that in December 1846, the Mission gave employment to 4,458 labourers, of which 2,006 were Roman Catholics.

People who said they endeavour "to starve the devils out of the island" were now employed on the Missions farm to receive money for whatever food they could afford.

Many people on the island of Achill turned to the Mission to either save themselves or their children from starvation during the famine.

The decline in the number of marriages after the famine had a serious effect on the population of Dugort, leading to the re-evaluation of the future of the Mission.