11/30/2023 0 Comments Map of clew bay islandsThe reason for the multiple variations is probably the lack of a standardised method of recording the names and the independent status of the recording bodies. This held sway before the exotic ‘Knocknegoushe’ intervened and then several other versions of the present form returned to dominance. Other variations of the latter spelling occurred in the 19th century before a version close to its current form was adapted in Innistubbritt. The name mutated by 1635 to Ennishtubbert and the similar Ennistibboret by 1661. Also in that year the island was given the name Inishtubrit according to the Inquisitions of County Mayo. The earliest label, Inishtubberid, dates from 1617 and is an entry in the Westport Estate Papers, which is a collection of records relating to the ownership and management of the largest estate in Co Mayo. The unpopulated island has no fewer than 23 versions of its name recorded on the placenames website logainm.ie. Not quite up to that level, though still with an impressive number of once-alternatives is Inishtubbrid. The Blasket island has at least 33 versions of its name as recorded in the eponymous title by Mícheál Dubhshláine. For the first time every island in Clew Bay, their history and other details, have been explored for the armchair traveler, along with tales of the great mountain and other remarkable aspects of this area.The record number of variations for an island name in this series so far is Inisvickillane, Co Kerry. These and other stories are all a part of “Croagh Patrick and the Islands of Clew Bay – A Guide to the Edge of Europe”. Other stories abound, like the successful opposition to Gold Mining led by people like the late Paddy Hopkins and the British environmentalist David Bellamy in 1989 the 43 shipwrecks lying beneath the Atlantic waves, including two ships of the Spanish Armada the Tochar Padraig – a pilgrimage trail Saint Patrick was said to have followed, but which was once part of a much longer trail stretching all of the way to Rathcroghan – the home of the High Kings of Connaught – and some say even Tara itself the southern wilderness with its Western Way and the Famine Road then there is magical Brackloon Wood on the slopes of the mountain – with its stone circle and ringfort and the other Bronze age remnants all around the Reek. It is on this 765-metre summit that Saint Patrick fasted for forty days even while vanquishing the snakes into Lugnademon – the “Hollow of the Serpents”. This beautiful mountain dominates the landscape as seen from the vibrant town of Westport. The most striking icon around this jewel of the Wild Atlantic Way is Croagh Patrick, known locally as “The Reek”. Local lore suggests that there is one island for each day of the year. Its swarm of drumlins is unlike anything else in western Europe. It is one of nature’s great spectacles and it only takes a few minutes climb on Croagh Patrick to see why. It isn’t hard to be inspired by this part of the world. As the temperature rose and the ice retreated, wave like patterns left sediment on the surface of the land, leaving these drumlins sloping from west to east with their massive boulder clay cliffs. Some 12,000 years before Granuaile, Clew Bay was covered in ice. Their discussion was carried out in Latin, as O’Malley spoke no English and Elizabeth spoke no Irish. O’Malley refused to bow before Elizabeth because she did not perceive her as the Queen of Ireland. As a result, she was famously invited to meet a curious Queen Elizabeth. This 16th century legend imposed her will on countless ships in the area. The largest of the islands is Clare Island, home of the “Pirate Queen” Grace O’Malley. He later agreed to allow Sid Rawle, the “King of the Hippies” to establish a commune on the island. John Lennon had earlier arranged for a wooden “gypsy caravan” painted in psychedelic colours to be brought from London and floated out to the island on a purpose built raft as a temporary home. She was swooped upon by nesting terns and swore never to return. Local legend has it that when Yoko Ono had a different experience when she first stepped on the isolated island of Dorinish in the late 1960’s. The great 19th century author William Thackeray wrote of Clew Bay, “…the bay and the Reek, which sweeps down to the sea, and the hundred isles in it, were dressed up in gold and purple and crimson, with the whole cloudy west in a flame.
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