Photograph by Cormac Coyne of the O'Brien's Castle
The Beautiful Island of Inis Oírr - Descriptions from An Unintended Haven
Excerpt from my book An Unintended Haven:
“Oh, that is Inis Oírr. One of the Aran Islands. Its name is Eastern Island in Irish, and it is the smallest of the three, being a little under eight hundred hectares.” I get out my phone to search for the conversion table… Ah, three square miles. I had forgotten that Ireland was on the metric system… Paul had been doing the conversions for us this whole tour.
Susan continues, “My wife’s family comes from there. It is a lovely place to visit. It has four old ruins, a modern shipwreck, and even a Neolithic archaeological site, but I particularly like to walk its lanes. They are so peaceful. I really feel at one with mother nature there.” Her mention of lanes reminds me of a dream I had a month ago.
“Oh, that is Inis Oírr. One of the Aran Islands. Its name is Eastern Island in Irish, and it is the smallest of the three, being a little under eight hundred hectares.” I get out my phone to search for the conversion table… Ah, three square miles. I had forgotten that Ireland was on the metric system… Paul had been doing the conversions for us this whole tour.
Susan continues, “My wife’s family comes from there. It is a lovely place to visit. It has four old ruins, a modern shipwreck, and even a Neolithic archaeological site, but I particularly like to walk its lanes. They are so peaceful. I really feel at one with mother nature there.” Her mention of lanes reminds me of a dream I had a month ago.
Information gleaned from InisOirr.com website and photographs from Cormac Coyne's postings.
Bridgette O'Brien's First View of Inis Oírr from
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Excerpt from my book An Unintended Haven:
As I step onto the ferry, I feel immense relief. I do not regret taking the tour, but I was so weary of being cooped up with strangers. As the ferry crosses Galway Bay, I stand on the deck. Feeling the brisk air on my skin is bolstering. It clears my head of the cobwebs of my tour. I stand for a few minutes, breathing as deep as I can without activating my cough. Soon, the cold air makes me relocate to a more sheltered place. As we near the island, I see brilliant green areas bordered by dark stone ramparts. The ruin of a stone structure squats on the top of the hill. Sprinkled in the gray and green are dots of white houses. The contrast of natural and constructed is jarring as if humankind is just camping on this spot for a short time with the reluctant permission of mother earth. As we come closer to the settlement, I notice it fans out from the pier. More significant buildings are near the ferry dock, with smaller houses scattered up the slow rise. There are working boats both dotting the water and resting at the shoreline on a white sand beach. I expected some colorful structures and thatched roofs like in Doolin, but these buildings are all made of white stucco with slate roofs, foursquare to the wind, and solidly planted in the earth. Behind the houses are a series of rock faces which form a backdrop to the village. I overhear a tour guide in lecture mode, “The whole island only has an elevation of two-hundred and fifty feet. See how the stepped hill is gradual in comparison to the Cliffs of Moher that we saw yesterday?” I move away from her lecture to experience the island for myself. As we come closer to the shore, the landscape rises; I realize that much of the stone I see is stone walls. While I had seen stonewalls in Ireland proper… These seem to define endless small fields and line every road and lane leading up hills to disappear over each prominence, only to re-emerge at the next rise of the landscape. My first impression of the island is for being so green; it is surprisingly treeless, this must be a continuation of the stony surface of the Burren. Low bushes accent the stone walls in some places. As we move toward the pier, the walls almost blot out Ireland’s famous green landscape. |
More Information from the Inis Oírr (Inisheer) Website
![Picture](/uploads/1/4/3/7/14378450/editor/inis-oirr-sky-view-d1-psx-20190503-161650.jpg?1631052926)
Image by Cormac Coyne.
This is Bridgette O'Brien speaking. She is the heroine of An Unintended Haven...
Those chores complete, I walk to the bookshelf, remove a couple of tour books, and retire to the sofa to read about the island. The English renamed it Inisheer, but I like the Irish name Inis Oírr (pronounced Inish Ear). I find it surprising when I read that the Irish people call their language Irish. For some reason, I want to use Gaeilge, or the Anglicized Gaelic, but those words are less accurate in usage. I laugh and think, well, I’ll use their terminology. Irish language it is.
Propping up some throw pillows on the arm of the sofa, I lay down with a soft wool throw over my legs. I begin with information about the Aran Islands. There are three and are a continuation of the Burren. I smile, remembering Paul talking about the hundred square mile rock formation.”
There are five villages on Inis Oírr, but I’ll refer to the settlement as one village because I cannot differentiate their boundaries. The ‘village’ has around two-hundred and sixty residents and occupies the northeast side of the island, which I assume protects the residents from the storms of the Atlantic Ocean. Protection from winds is essential because, from the Aran Islands, the next landfall to the west is Labrador on Canada’s eastern shore.
The book states that one can hike, bike, or take a pony trap to tour the island. The sites include a small airport, a new lighthouse, a bronze age circle of stones with two standing stones in its center. There are a couple of church ruins, a graveyard and a castle and tower ruin. The ruin at the top of the hill is called O’Brien’s Castle. Hmm… I wonder if this is the same O’Brien Family as the first King of Ireland? Of course, it is, Bridgette.
Back to the book, the natural features include the sand beach, numerous flat stone shelves melding into the sea, and some small cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. I guess the modern-day shipwreck on the eastern shore also is made by nature.
But there is one feature not mentioned in the books that I saw in profusion, the ever-present stone walls. They are almost a force of nature. There are unique patterns in the laying of the stone, but generally, the horizontal stones are dry-laid to a height of about four feet and are eighteen to twenty-four inches deep. But occasionally, rocks jut upright. Each upright stone is the height of about four rocks. I am sure the placement is for some structural reason, but their surprising abruptness seems to be a stalwart of resistance to gravity. The walls near my house have capstones, which angle up at about sixty degrees rather than laying flat. Side-by-side, they line the top of the walls. It is this capping stone that gives my wall a scraggly-tooth look.
This is Bridgette O'Brien speaking. She is the heroine of An Unintended Haven...
Those chores complete, I walk to the bookshelf, remove a couple of tour books, and retire to the sofa to read about the island. The English renamed it Inisheer, but I like the Irish name Inis Oírr (pronounced Inish Ear). I find it surprising when I read that the Irish people call their language Irish. For some reason, I want to use Gaeilge, or the Anglicized Gaelic, but those words are less accurate in usage. I laugh and think, well, I’ll use their terminology. Irish language it is.
Propping up some throw pillows on the arm of the sofa, I lay down with a soft wool throw over my legs. I begin with information about the Aran Islands. There are three and are a continuation of the Burren. I smile, remembering Paul talking about the hundred square mile rock formation.”
There are five villages on Inis Oírr, but I’ll refer to the settlement as one village because I cannot differentiate their boundaries. The ‘village’ has around two-hundred and sixty residents and occupies the northeast side of the island, which I assume protects the residents from the storms of the Atlantic Ocean. Protection from winds is essential because, from the Aran Islands, the next landfall to the west is Labrador on Canada’s eastern shore.
The book states that one can hike, bike, or take a pony trap to tour the island. The sites include a small airport, a new lighthouse, a bronze age circle of stones with two standing stones in its center. There are a couple of church ruins, a graveyard and a castle and tower ruin. The ruin at the top of the hill is called O’Brien’s Castle. Hmm… I wonder if this is the same O’Brien Family as the first King of Ireland? Of course, it is, Bridgette.
Back to the book, the natural features include the sand beach, numerous flat stone shelves melding into the sea, and some small cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. I guess the modern-day shipwreck on the eastern shore also is made by nature.
But there is one feature not mentioned in the books that I saw in profusion, the ever-present stone walls. They are almost a force of nature. There are unique patterns in the laying of the stone, but generally, the horizontal stones are dry-laid to a height of about four feet and are eighteen to twenty-four inches deep. But occasionally, rocks jut upright. Each upright stone is the height of about four rocks. I am sure the placement is for some structural reason, but their surprising abruptness seems to be a stalwart of resistance to gravity. The walls near my house have capstones, which angle up at about sixty degrees rather than laying flat. Side-by-side, they line the top of the walls. It is this capping stone that gives my wall a scraggly-tooth look.
Photographs by Cormac Coyne
Excerpt from my book An Unintended Haven about Cormac Coyne's photographs of stone walls.
"This room is lined with photographs of stone walls from around Inis Oírr. Oh, someone else loves the stone walls as much as I do. I recognize many of the crazy patterns. At the end of the room, there is a video made by Coyne called Féile na gCloch Inis Oírr, or Guardian of the Stones. It is a lovely record of a stonemason building a wall. I watch it twice and promise myself to find that stretch of wall. I love that the mason pays attention to how the stones are discovered in nature, and he installs them with that orientation in mind."
"This room is lined with photographs of stone walls from around Inis Oírr. Oh, someone else loves the stone walls as much as I do. I recognize many of the crazy patterns. At the end of the room, there is a video made by Coyne called Féile na gCloch Inis Oírr, or Guardian of the Stones. It is a lovely record of a stonemason building a wall. I watch it twice and promise myself to find that stretch of wall. I love that the mason pays attention to how the stones are discovered in nature, and he installs them with that orientation in mind."