![\"-](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/lands_end.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>– Islands of Ireland\u2019s Western Connemara \u2013 Ireland, A Different Visit<\/p><\/div>\n
The March\/April issue of GO magazine from AAA has an article Land\u2019s End \u2013 Discover the Islands of Ireland\u2019s Western Connemara by L.A.Jackson.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cOn the western edge of Ireland\u2019s Connemara District, land gives way to the mighty Atlantic Ocean, but only begrudgingly, as there are islands dotting the coastline that continue to resist the incessant will of the waves. Three in particular, Inishbofin, Inishturk and Clare Island, are inhabited (although barely), and accessible only by ferries or private boats. These out-of-the-way parts of the Emerald Isle are a step back from the complications of modern life accentuated by the chance to explore the rugged western Irish coast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Land\u2019s End \u2013 Discover the Islands of Ireland\u2019s Western Connemara
\nBy L.A.Jackson
\nMarch\/April issue of GO magazine from AAA<\/p><\/blockquote>\nRoad on the Island or Inishbofin
Photo by Towel 401<\/p><\/div>\nInishbofin<\/h2>\n
About 180 people live on the island of Inishbofin. \u00a0It is part of County Galway, just off the coast of Connemara, across from Ballinakill Harbour and Cleggan Bay. \u00a0It is small, less than 3 \u00bd miles long and under 2 miles wide.<\/p>\n
An uninhabited island, Inishark is just beside Inishbofin, separated by a channel.<\/p>\n
The name of the island in Irish is Inis B\u00f3 Finne. That means Island of the White Cow after a legend of a cow that turned into a stone. Inishark means Shark island.<\/p>\n
On the island of Inishbofin you can explore the ruins of a 13th-century church that was built at the site of a 7th century monastery; D\u00fan M\u00f3r, a ring fort; Cromwell’s Barracks, a seal colony and more.<\/p>\n
There used to be a light, like a lighthouse, but uninhabited. It washed away in 2014.<\/p>\n
Community on Inishturk
Photo by Towel 401<\/p><\/div>\nInishturk<\/h2>\n
Only 58 people live on the island of Inishturk in two small communities. There are two other abandoned communities.<\/p>\n
Inishturk Sheep
Photo by Towel 401<\/p><\/div>\nInishturk has a Napoleon tower, one of the towers built as lookout and signal towers during the Napoleonic Wars of 1803 to 1815.<\/p>\n
The rocky northern coast of Clare Island
Photo by Keith Salvesen<\/p><\/div>\nClare Island<\/h2>\n
Only 159 people still live on Clare Island. At the recorded peak, 1615 people lived on the island in 1841.<\/p>\n
Clarre Island Harbour with Granuaile’s Castle seen to the right
Carrowmore Hill is on the mainland on the opposite shore with the mountains of Mayo beyond.
Photo by Oliver Dixon<\/p><\/div>\nGranuaile’s Castle on Clare Island was the stronghold of the 16th-century Pirate Queen Gr\u00e1inne O’Malley, N\u00ed Mh\u00e1ille. She was Lord of the \u00d3 M\u00e1ille dynasty in the west of Ireland. When her sons and her half-brother were taken prisoner by the English governor, she formally met with Queen Elizabeth I. The story says that the Queens guards removed a concealed dagger she carried. She refused to bow or recognize her as the Queen of Ireland. \u00a0Queen Elizabeth agreed to return the captives and stolen cattle and land and remove the governor if N\u00ed Mh\u00e1ille would stay out of the Irish lords’ rebellions. \u00a0The governor was briefly removed, but then back and the property was not returned, so the Pirate Queen went back to supporting the Irish side in the Nine Years’ War.<\/p>\n
Ferries at the pier of Inishbofin
Photo by Andreas F. Borchert<\/p><\/div>\nGetting There<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Inishbofin ferry departs from the town of Cleggan in County Galway on the Irish mainland. Inishturk can be reached on ferries from either Cleggan or Roonagh pier just to the north of County Mayo. Clare Island is served by the Roonagh Quay. From Shannon International Airport, it is a little over two hours by car to the ferry ports.\u201d<\/p>\n
Land\u2019s End \u2013 Discover the Islands of Ireland\u2019s Western Connemara
\nBy L.A.Jackson
\nMarch\/April issue of GO magazine from AAA<\/p><\/blockquote>\nFeatured image at the top of the page is Inishbofin harbor, Port Island with Cromwell’s Barracks and the light on Gun Rock. A ship is leaving the harbor.
\nPhoto by Drow 69<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The March\/April issue of GO magazine from AAA has an article Land\u2019s End \u2013 Discover the Islands of Ireland\u2019s Western Connemara by L.A.Jackson. It is about the islands off the west coast of Ireland. I saw them, but did not visit them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-natural-wonders","category-the-rest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/featured-islands.jpg?fit=750%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8eR8A-HK","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2712"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2790,"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions\/2790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}