A lifetime of Islands

Wednesday, 11 July 2018

Island 420 - Inishnakillew, County Mayo

Inishnakillew is located on the east coast of Clew Bay 6 miles north west of the town of Westport in County Mayo. The island is a mile from east to west by 300 metres from north to south. The highest point on the island is 27 metres above sea level and this is towards the west end of the island.

Inishnakillew can be accessed by road via a causeway, which starts to the north west of the hamlet of Claggan and finishes on the south coast of Inishnakillew but at the western end of the island . The causeway looks as though it has been improved quite recently. The causeway is a single carriageway wide and the western side of it is protected by a high wall. I walked from Claggan but there is a small area of waste land at the Inishnakillew end of the causeway where you could park if you wanted to drive across to the island.

There are 3 houses on the island and in 2016 the resident population was recorded as 6. The only road on Inishnakillew runs from the end of the causeway along the south coast along the south coast and then turns north and goes up and down a steep hill to a boatyard on the north coast and another road causeway to the neighbouring island of Inishcottle.

Ruined house on Inishnakillew

Boat on the south coast of Inishnakillew

Looking east from the top of the hill towards Clare Island

Steep hill

Looking north east from the top of the hill towards Inishturk

Looking south from the top of the hill on Inishnakillew towards Carrigeenglass North

House on Inishnakillew

Road along the south coast of Inishnakillew

Causeway - looking towards Inishnakillew

Boatyard on Inishnakillew from the Inishcottle causeway

Seaweed strewn fence on the mainland road leading to the causeway to Inshnakillew - obviously this road is at least occasionally tidal!

Monday, 9 July 2018

Island 419 - Carrigeenglass North, County Mayo

Carrigeenglass North is a small, low lying, uninhabited tidal island located in Clew Bay near the hamlet of Claggan. It is accessible at low tide from the causeway, which leads from mainland County Mayo to the island of Inishnakillew. Most of Carrigeenglass North is walled in but the wall is low and broken in places, so it wouldn't be stock proof and there were no grazing animals there when I visited. The island is 250 metres from east to west by 50 metres from north to south and the highest part of the island is 8 metres above sea level. It is covered in grass and there were a few patches of scurvy grass and thrift in flower at the time of my visit in May 2018.

There is a track down the south side of the island, which looked as though it went over to the island of Carigeenrevagh, which lies to the west of Carrigeenglass North. However the tide had already turned and I wasn't sure how long the track would remain out of the water for, so I didn't attempt to visit Carigeenrevagh. It also looked as though there was a similar track leading from Carigeenrevagh to the larger island of Moneybeg to the south, which did have cattle grazing on it.

South coast of Carrigeenglass North looking west

Track to Carrigeenrevagh along the south coast of Carrigeenglass North

Looking south east to the causeway to mainland County Mayo

Carrigeenglass North from the causeway

Unnamed island to the west of Carrigeenglass North, which has the causeway running over it

Saturday, 7 July 2018

Island 418 - Annagh Island West, County Mayo

Annagh Island is a low lying tidal island located 4 miles west of the town of Westport in County Mayo on the south side of Clew Bay. It has three parts called Annagh Island West, Middle and East, which I think are only joined together at low tide and so would count as 3 separate islands. I only visited Annagh Island West, as I didn't want to disturb the sheep grazing in the fields and there was a section of soft mud on the outside of the field wall, which was impassable. The highest point on Annagh Island is 6 metres above sea level.

I initially tried to access Annagh Island from the nearby Killdangan/Killadangan Stone Row, across the salt marsh but the ground was soft and there were too many water filled sections to cross safely, so I went back to the car, drove a bit further west and then walked north along a shingle ridge. This was a much easier way.

All three Annagh Islands are very odd shapes with lots of bulges and arms. The western island curves in an easterly direction, the middle island curves towards the south east and the eastern island curves to the north. The beach on the west side of all three islands is called Sruffanbaun Strand.

Shed on Annagh Island West

Sheep grazing on Annagh Island West

Looking north over Annagh Island West

Looking north east towards Annagh Island Middle

Impassable soft mud

Annagh Island West from Killiagaunummera

Thursday, 5 July 2018

Island 417 - Killiagaunummera, County Mayo

Killiagaunummera is a very small tidal island located 4 miles west of the town of Westport on the south coast of Clew Bay. It lies between the mainland of County Mayo and the larger island to the north, which is called Annagh Island West. There is a vehicle track across the island, which leads on to Annagh Island West.

Killiagaunummera was being grazed by sheep when I walked north along the shingle ridge that links it to the mainland of County Mayo but when they saw me, they all ran away!

Sheep with lambs on Killiagaunummera

Track crossing Killiagaunummera

Croagh Patrick from Killiagaunummera

Killiagaunummera from Annagh Island West with Croagh Patrick in the distance

Tuesday, 3 July 2018

Island 416 - Cahernaran Island, County Mayo

Cahernaran Island is a small, low lying uninhabited tidal island located 600 metres to the north of Murrisk Abbey and 5.5 miles to the west of the town of Westport in County Mayo on the south coast of Clew Bay. There is a large free car park at the abbey, which has a large cemetery adjacent to it. From the car park it is a short and easy walk along a track and then across a seaweed covered shingle ridge onto the island. Cahernaran Island is a very strange shape - the bulk of the island is by the crossing point but there is also a very long thin grass covered "arm" that extends in an arc to the north east for about 500 metres. A much shorter "arm" extends in a westerly direction for about 50 metres.

Cahernaran Island has an impressive collection of gorse bushes growing on it and a wonderful view south to Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holy mountain. Thrift, buttercups and sea mayweed were all in flower on the island when I visited in early May 2018. The island has a small pond on the north side of the main part of the island.

Looking south towards Croagh Patrick from Cahernaran Island

Looking towards Croagh Patrick across the pond

Looking south west from the north east "arm" of Cahernaran Island

Stranded jellyfish on the beach

Looking north east from the north eastern "arm" of Cahernaran Island

Cahernaran Island from the mainland

Sunday, 1 July 2018

Island 415 - Claggan Island, County Mayo

Claggan Island (Oileán Chloigeann in Irish) is a low lying tidal island located in Blacksod Bay, 10 miles north west of the town of Bangor Erris and 4 miles south of the town of Belmullet in the north west corner of County Mayo.

A mile long sand tombolo links Claggan Island to the mainland of County Mayo. It is possible to drive a car along a track through the dunes and then along the beach at low tide. The area to the north of the tombolo is Trawmore Bay.

Claggan Island was officially declared an island in January 1991 when it was cut off from the mainland of County Mayo for several weeks by storms. The tombolo was later repaired. The highest point on Claggan Island is 29 metres above sea level. The island is approximately one mile from east to west by half a mile from north to south.

Unusually for a such a small Irish island, there are signposts to Claggan Island because it is officially part of the Wild Atlantic Way. There isn't a formal car park at the mainland end of the tombolo but there is plenty of space to park.

On arrival at Claggan Island I was drawn to look at the outside of the old Belmullet Coastguard Station. However to do this I had to enter a yard and as I did so a man came out. I was a bit worried he was going to tell me to go away but no, this is Ireland and he had come out to welcome me and to have a chat! He was very friendly and informative and happy to answer my many questions. He said he had lived and farmed on the island since returning home from the UK in the 1980s. I think he also said he lived on the island as a child. He showed me one of the two new glamping pods next to the Coastguard Station, which he said after decades of neglect had recently been renovated by his son and turned into luxury self-catering accommodation. He also gave me a copy of The North Mayo Sculpture Trail booklet, as one of the sculptures is on Claggan Island.

The sculpture is called Acknowledgement and it was designed by artist Marian O'Donnell and constructed in 2001. Unbaptised infants, suicides, unidentified bodies recovered from the sea and other people deemed by the Catholic church to be unworthy, were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground, so they were often buried in a place called a cillín or lisín, with their graves marked by uninscribed stones. There is a cillín in the middle of a field on Claggan Island and Marian O'Donnell's sculpture is in the same field. It consists of two curved stone walls facing each other and separated from each other by a narrow passageway. Each stone wall is backed by a sloping earth bank. You can walk between the stone walls, which are supposed to embrace, protect and acknowledge those buried in the cillín. The following words by the poet Derek Mahon are inscribed on a stone nearby:

"They are begging us you see

in their wordless way,

To do something to speak

on their behalf,

Or at least not to close

the door again."

Belmullet Coast Guard Station was built on Claggan Island in 1795 and was in use until the 1920s. Three families lived and worked at the station. In the 1960s the roof was removed and the buildings became derelict. Restoration work began in 2009 and was completed in 2010.