Clare Island

Clare Island, in Irish Cliara or Oileán Chliara, is a mountainous island guarding the entrance to Clew Bay in County Mayo. It was the home of the 16th-century pirate queen Gráinne O’Malley, Granuaile, and its castle, painted medieval abbey, cliffs and summit views make it one of the great islands of the west. The 2022 census recorded 138 people.

Landscape

The island covers about 4,050 acres and rises steeply to 462 metres at Knockmore, whose northern cliffs fall sheer into the Atlantic. Its sheltered eastern side, around the harbour and the sandy beach, faces Croagh Patrick and the drumlin islands of the inner bay, with Achill to the north and Inishturk and Caher Island to the south-west.

History

Through the Middle Ages Clare Island was part of the O’Malley lordship of Umhaill. The tower house by the pier, known as Granuaile’s Castle, was a base for Gráinne O’Malley’s fleet, and Clare Island Abbey near the south coast, founded by the O’Malleys, holds the O’Malley tomb, possibly her burial place. The abbey is famous for its rare medieval roof paintings of people, animals and mythical creatures. In 1588 a ship of the Spanish Armada was wrecked on the island, and its crew were killed by the O’Malleys. The lighthouse on the northern cliffs was established in 1806 and closed in 1965, when a new light opened on Achillbeg; it is now a guesthouse.

A new survey from 1990 to 2005 repeated it, making the island an unusual baseline for measuring environmental change.

More about Clare Island

Between 1909 and 1911 the naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger led the Clare Island Survey, an exhaustive study of the island’s plants and animals that was unprecedented at the time. A new survey from 1990 to 2005 repeated it, making the island an unusual baseline for measuring environmental change. The island is the subject of the Saw Doctors’ song Clare Island, and the setting for Bob Quinn’s film Budawanny.

Visiting

Ferries run daily to Clare Island from Roonagh Pier near Louisburgh, a crossing of about 20 minutes. The island has a hostel, B&Bs, a yoga retreat and bike hire, and the climb of Knockmore and the walk to the lighthouse are the highlights. You can collect Clare Island as a landing in your Island Passport.

Wildlife and area

The cliffs of Knockmore hold fulmars, kittiwakes and choughs, and peregrines hunt along them. Grey seals, common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins are seen in the surrounding waters. Nearby islands include Achillbeg, Caher Island and Inishturk.