Island 428 - Small Island, County Galway

Small Island lives up to its name, as it is indeed small - about 50 metres in diameter. It is a small island located on the south side of Killary Harbour close to its eastern end and a mile north west of the village of Leenaun.  The island is covered in rough grass, sedge and gorse bushes with a few rhododendrons.  It is separated from the mainland by about 10 metres of seaweed covered rocks.    It is obviously visited by the sheep who reside in the adjacent field, as I followed the path they had made through the seaweed to get onto the island.

Small Island

Looking east from Small Island across Killary Harbour towards the Aasleagh Falls

Ben Gorm from Small Island

Looking north across Killary Harbour to Ben Gorm

Mainland from Small Island

 

Small Island

Island 427 - Roeillaun, County Galway

Roeillaun is a small round uninhabited tidal island located to the north west of the tidal island of Gooreen and two miles north west of the village of Cleggan in County Galway.  It is about 200 metres in diameter.

There is evidence of peat cutting in the past on the island and some rabbit holes, although I didn't see any rabbits.  There were a few cow pats on the island, so it is obviously occasionally visited by roaming cattle, although there were none on the island when I was there.

I identified the following plants growing on Roeillaun: primroses, bracken, cotton grass, tormentil, heather, silverweed, sandwort, thrift, daisies, buttercups, bird's-foot trefoil and celandines.

Peat bank

 

Inishbofin from Roeillaun

 

Looking south west towards the mainland

 

Primroses and celandines on Roeillaun

Looking west towards Dog Island

 

Looking north west towards Roeillaun

Island 426 - Gooreen, County Galway

Gooreen is a low-lying, thin, uninhabited tidal island 2 miles north west of the village of Cleggan in County Galway.  When I visited in mid May 2018  there were lots of wild flowers in bloom e.g. sea mayweed, buttercups, daisies, scurvy grass, dandelions, sandwort, silverweed and thrift.  I also identified sea holly and thistles, which weren't in flower. Some of the rocks were covered in golden and grey/green lichens.

Having studied some late 19th century Ordnance Survey maps of the island,  I think that Gooreen used to be longer and closer to its neighbour Roeillaun than it currently is, but that it has been eroded by the sea. It is currently about 130 metres from north to south by 40 metres from east to west.  It is separated from the mainland by a 150 metre long sand tombolo with a short section of pebbles to cross at the island end.

Gooreen from the mainland

 

Gooreen

 

Looking north from Gooreen towards Roeillaun

 

Sea mayweed in flower on Gooreen - looking south towards the mainland

 

Looking south towards Gooreen

Island 425 - Illaunakeegher, Omey Island, County Galway

Illaunakeegher is a small, low-lying, uninhabited tidal island located off the north west tip of Omey Island, which is itself a tidal island located to the west of the village of Claddaghduff in County Galway.  

I arrived at the crossing point a couple of hours before low tide and there was still about 6 inches of water filling a channel between Omey and Illaunakeegher, so I took my boots off and paddled through it.  I should have been a bit more patient, as by the time I came to cross back 15 minutes later, the water had receded sufficiently to reveal some rocks, which I could have used as stepping stones.

Someone has built a small cairn on Ilaunakeegher and there are good views from it across to Cruagh and High Island.  When I visited in May 2018 thrift and kidney vetch were in flower on the island.  Many of the rocks on Illaunakeegher are covered in golden lichen.

Looking south west towards Cruagh Island and High Island

 

Looking east towards over Omey Island towards the mountains of Connemara

 

Cairn - looking north east to mainland County Galway

 

Crossing point

 

Looking south west from Omey Island towards Illaunakeegher

Island 424 - Glassillan 2, Inishbofin, County Galway

Glassillan 2 is a small rocky tidal island located just off the west coast of Inishbofin.  It is easy to cross to it over a pebbly beach and it is probably not cut off from Inishbofin except for an hour or so at high tide.  The main part of the island is no more than 50 metres long by 30 metres wide.  There is a separate grass covered rock immediately to the north of Glassillan 2 and joined to it at low tide.  However this rock doesn't have a name.

On the modern Ordnance Survey of Ireland 1:50,000 Discovery Series map it looks as though the island I visited is called Carricknamoyla.  However 19th century Ordnance Survey maps name it as Glassillan and mark some rocks to the south east of the island as Carricknamoyla.  Confusingly there is another island called Glassillan 500 metres north west of this one, which is why I have called this one Glassillan 2.

Glassillan 2 is covered with grass in between rocky outcrops and when I visited in May 2018 thrift, sea mayweed and scurvy grass were all in flower.

Looking south east over the Carricknamoyla rocks to the mountains of Connemara

 

Scurvy grass, thrift and sea mayweed - looking south east from Glassillan 2

 

Looking north west over East End Bay

 

Gap between Glassillan and the rock to the north

Looking east towards the mountains of Connemara

 

East End Bay from Glassillan 2

 

Interesting quartz veins in the rocks

 

Looking south east from Glassillan 2 towards the Carricknamoyla rocks

 

Glassillan 2 from Inishbofin

Island 423 - Inishlyon/Inis Laighean, Inishbofin, County Galway

Inishlyon (Inis Laighean in Irish) is an uninhabited tidal island located to the east of the beautiful East Beach on the south east coast of the island of Inishbofin.  It is just under a mile from east to west by about 400 metres from north to south.  The highest point on the island is 43 metres above sea level and the eastern end of the island is called Lyon Head.  The island is covered in rough grass and heather with some exposed outcrops of rocks.

I arrived at the crossing point a few minutes before low tide but there was still a channel of shallow water separating the island from Inishbofin, so I had to take my boots and socks off and paddle.  The water was only about 20cm deep and 20 metres wide and it was crystal clear but it was also icy cold!  A broken line of rocks almost connects Inishlyon to Inishbofin.  However it is much easier to cross to the island over the sand.

In 2015 an archaeologist called Erin Gibbon discovered a previously unrecorded  sunken village on Inishlyon.  The remains of four houses, two middens and a possible kelp kiln have been identified.  All of the houses are gradually being eroded by the sea.  Excavations were carried out in the summers of 2015, 2016 and 2017 and pottery, shells, metal objects, and bones of birds, fish and animals were found.
 

Inishbofin from Inishlyon

Looking north west from Inishlyon to Inishbofin

I think there may be some iron in the rocks

Looking north east towards Inishturk

Rock pool on Inishlyon

Rippled sand  looking towards Inishlyon

Different seaweeds in the crystal clear water

Inishlyon from Inishbofin

 

Inishlyon from East Beach on Inishbofin

 

Island 422 - Dooghbeg Point, County Galway

Dooghbeg Point is a very small uninhabited tidal island located a mile to the west of the town of Clifden in County Galway and a few hundred metres to the south of Clifden Boat Club.  There is a small parking area in front of the boat club and it didn't say it was a private car park for the boat club but it might be. 

Dooghbeg Point, which is linked to the mainland at low tide by a pebble beach, is only a couple of metres above the high tide level but it is covered in grass with clumps of kidney vetch, scurvy grass and sea mayweed.  The island is about 80 metres long by 20 metres wide.

Looking north west towards Clifden Boat Club from Dooghbeg Point

Clifden Boat Club from the southern end of Dooghbeg Point

Patch of kidney vetch on Doughbeg Point

Sea mayweed in flower on Dooghbeg Point

 Looking south across the island to its south easterly tip

Looking south over Dooghbeg Point

Island 381 - Tawin/Tamhain, County Galway

Tawin Island (Tamhain in Irish) is linked at its eastern end by a bridge to the neighbouring island of Tawin East.  Tawin East is in turn linked by another bridge/causeway to the mainland of County Galway.  Tawin Island is located about 5 miles to the south west of the town of Oranmore.  The whole island is very flat and largely treeless, although there are a few trees close to the only row of houses on the island. One of the 14 or so dwellings on the island is an attractive thatched house.  When I visited on a grey blustery morning in mid May 2017 the island was being grazed by cattle and sheep.  I didn't see any human residents but I did meet a friendly dog.

The main body of the island is just over a mile from east to west and just over half a mile from north to south.  However there is what looks from aerial photographs to be spit/salt marsh extending for almost a mile in a south easterly direction from the middle of the south coast of the island.

Sir Roger Casement was a human right activist and Irish nationalist.  He was hanged by the British in 1916 for his involvement in the Easter Rising.  He visited Tawin Island in 1904 in support of parents on the island who had withdrawn their children from the island's national school in protest that they would not be taught in the Irish language.  The islanders raised enough money from sympathisers to their cause to build their own school.  The building was used during the summer holidays as a Gaelic college.

Eamon de Valera spent three summers on Tawin Island as the Director of the Gaelic League's Summer School from 1911-13.  He was later a commander during the Easter Rising of 1916, a political leader in the War of Independence and of the anti-Treaty opposition during the Irish Civil War (1922–1923). After leaving Sinn Féin in 1926, he founded the political party Fianna Fáil.  He was head of the Irish government from 1932 to 1948, 1951 to 1954, and 1957 to 1959.  In 1959 he resigned after being elected as President of Ireland.   In the summer of 1912 Eamon de Valera met Sir Roger Casement for the first time on Tawin Island when Casement visited the island to see how the school was doing. 

Old School

 

Thatched house

 

Sheep and Trees on Tawin

Old King George V post box - no longer in use

 

End of the road

Island 380 - Tawin East/Tamhain Thoir, County Galway

Tawin East (Tamhain Thoir in Irish) is a very flat island sandwiched between and linked by road causeways/bridges to Tawin Island to the west and the mainland of County Galway four miles to the south west of the town of Oranmore.  I only saw one signpost to Tawin, so if you want to visit, bring a map.  In fact you will need three Discovery Series Ordnance Survey maps (Sheets 46, 51 & 52), as the Tawin Islands are inconveniently on two separate sheets and the bit of the mainland to which they are linked is on a 3rd sheet, which makes it a bit difficult to navigate to them successfully.  Tawin East is about a mile from east to west but only quarter of a mile from north to south.

When I visited Tawin East in mid May 2017 there were a few cattle and some sheep grazing in some of the fields.  There are a couple of modern houses at the eastern end of the island and the only road runs along the south coast of the island.

As I drove back onto Tawin East from Tawin Island I saw an animal in the road.  At first I thought it was a muntjac deer but then it moved and I realised it was a very large Irish hare.  He nonchalantly hopped along the road for a few more metres and then jumped over a wall into a field. 

North Coast of Tawin East

 

Tawin East - looking towards Tawin Island

 

Multi-coloured cows of Tawin East

 

Big new house on Tawin East

 

Bridge linking Tawin East to the Mainland

 

Modern house on Tawin East