[Title of book] The XUAL Community: From Earliest Articles of

Association To Its Last Days

[Section] Introduction
All the material collected in this volume pertain to the history of the
XUAL Community; a little known, little understood experimental
society formerly based in Kilmatogh bog, in rural County Leitrim. In
so far as is practicable, they are arranged in the order in which they
were written. When the date of composition cannot be precisely
fixed, a 'guessed at' date will be given instead. The earliest items date
from before the beginning of associative residency at Kilmatogh. The
latest were written after the demise of the Community.
Throughout this book every effort has been made to present the
primary sources exactly as they read on the pages from which they
are quoted. Typographical errors will be inserted with the Latin sic,
in brackets, after them meaning thus it is in the original. At times,
too, a word necessary to the sense of the passage is left out of the
original source. When this happens, the missing word is supplied in
brackets by me, the editor. The materials contained in this book are
divided into Chapter parts. They are not of course all the evidence on
the XUAL Community. They are merely a selection that I've found to
the best of my research ability (which I freely admit is not
considerable).
An exhaustive biography of the XUAL Community would require
information that could not be included here. For example, it would
require a broad view of Irish socio-economic history, beginning in
the late Sixties through to the early Eighties. It would need a detailed
reference to the academic climate of the time, the influence of the
Church, the State, local government and local policing policy. And it
would certainly benefit by descriptions of some of the many other
associations and Societies contemporary with the XUAL
Community both in Ireland and abroad and of Malcolm Cassin
1

[Title of book] The XUAL Community: From Earliest Articles of

Association To Its Last Days
himself, the acknowledged leader and founder.
None of this information is included in this volume. It is a basic
history. The picture it provides is small, particular, and local -a
microscopic image. For this reason readers are well advised rather to
seek sharpness of detail than vastness of scope. But after a thorough
consideration of the facts, one comes at last to a judgement of the
XUAL Community. There is no standard appraisal of it. Family of
those inducted into the Community have called it a hippie
commune. Others equally refer to it as scientifically fringe and
experimental. In a sense it failed. The plan collapsed in disaster. In
another sense it succeeded. But whatever judgement one may feel
drawn toward, the story of the XUAL Community remains an
important moment in local history, with value (or warning) to later
times.
I am indebted to the helpful staff of the Local Studies section of
Leitrim County Library, the Blackross Parish Priest who clued me in
on a relevant issue of the Leitrim Gazette newspaper (that was
recalled from circulation), and the wonderful members of 'The
Kilmatogh Mystery' forum (http://kilmatogh.the-talk.net) for their
contributions, insights and discussions on (and off) the topic.
John Howey (Editor)