A lifetime of Islands: County Clare

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Island 362 - Aughinish, County Clare

Aughinish is a small island located off the north coast of County Clare about 6 miles to the west of the town of Kinvarra. However the only land access to the island is by a road causeway from County Galway. It is thought that the island was joined to County Clare at New Quay until 1st November 1755 when a tsunami caused by the Lisbon Earthquake separated it from the mainland. The earthquake measured up to 9 on the Richter Scale and lasted for between 3 and 6 minutes, which is a very long time for an earthquake (they usually last seconds not minutes)

Aughinish was a true island for 50 years and then a causeway was built by the British c1804-10 to give them access to the Martello Tower, which they built on the north east coast of Aughinish to protect against a possible invasion of Ireland by the French.

Aughinish is 2 km from east to west and about 1.2km from north to south at its widest point. There are about 20 houses on the island. There is a ruined church and graveyard in the south west corner of the island. I didn't have time to walk to these but could see them in the distance from the end of the road at the southern tip of the island. I did walk out to the Martello Tower to find a geocache. When I got out of my car to take a photo of one of the more attractive cottages on the island, a neighbour came out to ask if I was lost. That wasn't such an odd question to ask, as signposting in Ireland is a bit hit and miss and I did not pass any signposts at all to Aughinish.

The parts of Aughinish which aren't farmed had plenty of thrift and birds foot trefoil in flower when I visited in early May 2017. Skylarks were singing overhead.

Looking south from the coast of Aughinish towards the village of Cartron in County Clare

Looking west along the south coast of Aughinish towards the ruined church

Cottage in the centre of Aughinish

Curious cows

This cow was definitely asking to be photographed while her calf was suckling her

Martello Tower

Aughinish Causeway looking east towards County Galway

Island 361 - Scanlan's Island, County Clare

Scanlan's Island is a small tidal island joined on its north east corner to the coast of County Clare at the village of Finvarra at low tide. It is also permanently to the mainland by a rough causeway, described on the Ordnance Survey Discovery Map as a breakwater. I'm not sure of the purpose of this breakwater, as it is too rough to drive over or for cattle to walk over. I walked across it in my ordinary shoes but wished I had put my walking boots on, as it was very uneven. I visited just after high tide and the breakwater was all above the water level. At the side of it I could see both ends of what looked to be a track used by vehicles at low water to cross to the island. There were cow pats on the low tide track, which looks to run around the edge of at least part of the island, but I didn't see any cows. While I was on the island I heard my first cuckoo of 2017.

The remains of two other breakwaters can be seen, one a few metres to the west of the current one and another (which looks a bit like the Loch Ness Monster) on the north west corner of the island. These two breakwaters are marked on the 1990s OS map but not on the 2015 edition.

Scanlan's Island is diamond shaped and is approximately 1km from north to south and 700 metres from east to west at its widest point. It is low lying, with the highest point being only 8 metres above sea level. The whole island is farmed. When I visited in mid May 2017 the northern third had been ploughed, the middle section was pasture, although I couldn't see any livestock grazing it and the southern part was growing some kind of crop.

Half a mile to the west of Finvarra there is a shop selling delicious Linnalla homemade ice cream. Just outside the shop and overlooking Scanlan's Island there is a curious monument/memorial wall. I'm not sure what the purpose of it was but I quite liked it.