Island 373 - Inishnee/Inis Ní, County Galway

Inishnee (Inis Ní in Irish) is linked by a bridge to the mainland of County Galway two miles to the north of the small town of Roundstone.  It is low lying and is about 3 miles from north to south by a mile from east to west at its widest point.

Before the Great Famine of the 1850s the island had a population of 455.  In 2011 the population was just 43.  It is also home to lots of Irish hares but they were hiding from me, so I didn't see any.

In 2010 Monty Halls lived in a cottage on the island for six months while he was filming Monty Halls Great Irish Escape.  You can stay in the same cottage, as it is rented as a self-catering holiday property.  However it isn't the world's most exciting island, the road running down the west coast of the island is a bit narrow and the island doesn't have any amenities.  It felt rather bleak to me even on a sunny evening in May.

About half way down the island there is a turning off the left down an even narrower lane, which leads to the ruined Chapel of St Matthew and an ancient graveyard.  There are a couple of holy wells marked on the Ordnance Survey map but I didn't look for either of them.

Ruined cottage on Inishnee

View from a small car park looking east

Boat graveyard and pony

Small copse of trees

The town of Roundstone from Inishnee

Roundstone from Inishnee

New houses on Inishnee

Not sure what this ruin is

Plaque commemorating the opening of the new Inishnee Bridge in 2001

Mountains of Connemara from Inishnee

St Matthew's Chapel and Graveyard

I think the southern part of Inishnee used to be a separate tidal island, now linked by this causeway

Inishnee from Roundstone Harbour

Mountain of Connemara and Inishnee from Roundstone

 

Inishnee from Roundstone Harbour

Island 372 - Ardmore, Sky Road, County Galway

Ardmore is located adjacent to the hamlet of Fahy at the south west end of the Sky Road Peninsula, which lies to the west of the town of Clifden in County Galway.  It is shown on the Ordnance Survey map as being permanently linked to the mainland. However it is only linked by a rocky tombolo, which looked as though it would probably only be covered at very high spring tides or during storm conditions.  The island is 800 metres from east to west and 500 metres from north to south at its widest point.  The highest point is 38 metres above sea level.  The island, which is covered in grass looks as though it might sometimes be used for grazing livestock but there was no sign of any animals when I visited on a sunny evening in May 2017.

Abandoned raft - looking east towards Fahy

Looking west down the south coast of Ardmore

Looking west across Ardmore

Tree trunk on the tombolo

Island 371 - Glassillan, Inishbofin, County Galway

Glassillan is a very small tidal island permanently linked to the south side of Inishbofin's East Bay by a broken rocky causeway.  However at low tide it is much easier to walk along the beach to the island.  The remains of fish curing station can be seen on the island, which is no more than about 50 metres in diameter.

The Congested Districts Board was set up in 1891 to develop economic activity in the poorest areas of Ireland and those most badly affected by the great famine of the 1850s.  They established the herring and mackerel curing station on Glassillan in 1897.  They also built another curing station at the Old Pier at the east end of Bofin Harbour.  I'm haven't been able to find out when they stopped being used. The curing station and causeway at Glassillan were badly damaged in the storms of 2014.

Looking south down the broken causeway

Ruins of the Curing Station on Glassillan

Glassillan from East End Bay Beach

Ruined Curing Station

Island 370 - Port Island, Inishbofin, County Galway

Port Island is a small tidal island linked at low tide by a beach of silver sand to the south coast of Inishbofin.  I visited about an hour after low tide and would think that the beach is uncovered for longer than it is covered by the sea.  The island is about 500 metres by 200 metres. 

After the 1641 Irish Rebellion Royalist forces held out on Inishbofin until they were finally forced to surrender to Oliver Cromwell's troops.  Cromwell then had a star-shaped fort built on Port Island in c1656.  Catholic priests were imprisoned in it until the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660. 

The fort was garrisoned by Irish Jacobites during the Williamite War (1688-91) when the Jacobites, who supported the deposed Catholic King James II, fought against the Protestant King William III, who had replaced him on the throne.  They held out until the Battle of Aughrim in 1691, when they surrendered to the Williamite forces.

The fort is known locally as Cromwell's Barracks and the extensive ruins can be explored. 

The gap between Inishbofin and Port Island at low tide

Cromwell's Barracks

Port Island

Cromwell's Barracks

Bofin Harbour from Cromwell's Barracks

Bofin Harbour

Cromwell's Barracks

Cromwell's Barracks

Signal Tower from Cromwell's Barracks

Cromwell's Barracks

Main Gateway into Cromwell's Barracks

Cromwell's Barracks

Looking across to Cromwell's Barracks from Inishbofin

Cromwell's Barracks

Cromwell's Barracks

Gun Rock Daymark

This is located a very short distance to the west of Port Island

Island 369 - Inishbofin/Inis Bó Finne, County Galway

Inishbofin (Inis Bó Finne in Irish) is a lovely island located off the west coast of County Galway.  A ferry to the island runs daily from the village of Cleggan.  The island, which lies about 3 miles off the coast of County Galway, is about 5.5 miles from east to west and 2 miles from north to south and the highest point is 292 metres above sea level.  In Irish the name means "island of the white cow".  In 2011 the population was 160. Before the great famine of the 1850s the population reached a maximum of 1,600.

Sometimes I just know that I am going to like an island very much and I had this feeling about Inishbofin even before I got to Cleggan.   Within 5 minutes of leaving Cleggan Harbour on the ferry the local pod of dolphins put on a fantastic display for us - leaping out of the water and then swimming alongside and easily keeping up with the boat for about 15 minutes much to the delight of everyone on board.  This was the closest I had ever been to wild dolphins.  I visited the island again in May 2018 and on this occasion we saw a minke whale swimming close by.

Inishbofin is divided into 5 townlands: West Quarter, Fawnmore, Middle Quarter, Cloonamore and Knock. There are 3 waymarked looped (circular) walks on the island: around West Quarter, Middle Quarter and Cloonamore.  There is a leaflet with a good map of the island showing places of interest and the routes of the looped walks.  I don't know where you get one from - the Community Centre perhaps.  I found one in a geocache and "borrowed" it.  It wouldn't be possible to explore the island fully in one day - you get about 5 hours on the island if you are a day visitor.  However there is a hostel, 3 hotels, several B&Bs and lots of self-catering properties if you want to stay for a few days. 

There is a shop on the island and a couple of bars and restaurants.  The Community Centre is also a sports hall, internet café, gym, library and radio studio and has food and drink vending machines.  There is a Catholic Church near the harbour. It was built 1910-14 on the site of an older church.  There is also a Heritage Museum at the Old Pier, which I must have walked by but didn't notice.

In my 5 hours I managed to visit Port Island at low tide, explore Knock and Cloonamore, find 3 geocaches and do the Cloonamore Looped Walk.  At one point I thought I wasn't going to get back to the ferry in time and would have won a prize for speed walking.  However it wasn't as far as I thought and I got back to the harbour with 20 minutes to spare. 

It is not known when Inishbofin was first inhabited.  St Colman landed on Inishbofin in 665 AD having travelled from Lindisfarne via Iona after falling out with some other monks over the dating of Easter.  He established a monastery on Inishbofin at Knock.  The present chapel ruins date from after 1334 when the original wooden chapel was ransacked and burnt down by John Darcy, a Lord Justice.

Inishbofin is a breeding ground for the rare corncrake.  I didn't see or hear one.

Catholic Church

Inside the church

Stained glass window in the church

Stained glass window in the church

Bofin Harbour

Ruined chapel and Graveyard on the site of St Colman's Monastery

View from the Chapel towards Inis Laighean

Hollowed out bullaun stone in the Chapel

Inis Laighean from Knock Hill

Loch a Teampaill

Hostel

Old Pier

 

Memorial at East End Bay to the  9 Inishbofin fishermen who were drowned during a storm on 28th October 1927

In all 45 men drowned - the others were from Cleggan, Inishkea and Lacken.  There is another memorial in the village of Cleggan.

Inishbofin Ferry at Cleggan

Inishbofin Community Centre

Inishbofin Blanket

Dun na h-Inine from the north coast of Inishbofin

Looking South East across East End Bay

 

Ruined cottage on the way to Port Island

The Beach - Bar and B&B

House on Inishbofin

Boundary Stone

Looking east towards Inishlyon

Small loch

Cemetery

Dolphin Hotel

School

Mural outside the school

Mural outside the school

Lobster pots on the beach

Memorial to the five fishermen from Tarrachan who were drowned while fishing for mackerel off Inishbofin on December 15th 1914

Holy well

Interesting house

Post Office

Inishwallah Bus Café

Inside the Inishwallah Café

Murray's  Doonmore Hotel

Daymark

A sheep and a goat

Grave of Vincent Joseph O'Halloran

Vincent O'Halloran played the accordion and was a fixture on the Irish traditional music scene in London from the 1960s until his death in 2014.  He was born on Inishbofin.

Shrine