The Islands of Ireland: Of saints and traditions on the Shannon

The domicile of the McInerneys, a popular family who lived for generations on Saint's Island

Saint’s Island, Shannon Estuary, Co Clare. There is a large enclosure in the centre of the island, again completely overgrown. An archaeological record has yet to be provided but it is likely to be a ringfort. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

The only house on Saint’s Island in the Shannon Estuary, can barely be called a house any longer. The walls are still standing, just about, the corrugated iron roof is pretty much caved in, and the floor is largely gone. It is many years since this place was called home by a family. This was the domicile of the McInerneys, a popular family who lived for generations on the island, alone but tranquil.

The house is completely overgrown now with ivy clinging to the walls but it is still possible to appreciate the lovely aspect it had of the middle part of the Shannon
Estuary, about 15km from Limerick.

Nearby islands include the fragments of Sod Island and Fergus Island where no one was ever domiciled. The northern bank of the Shannon is very close with the southern about 2km off.

The McInerneys would have witnessed thousands upon thousands of boats plying their trade up and down the river over the years, some on their way to Limerick City.

A couple of boats were registered to the island in the 1901 census, so unsurprisingly, fishing was the main source of income.

The McInerneys were widely known on the River Shannon Estuary as evidenced by one of the Shannon’s Strand fishermen in a newspaper interview: “The McInerney’s of Saint’s Island and Johnny Green of Green’s Island always gave us a great welcome. They always made us feel at home”. The Strand fishermen fished all the way from Limerick City to the mouth of the estuary, a way of life now largely gone.

Dan MacCarthy.

The gathering of seaweed, sold as fertiliser, was a supplement to the fishing, and rights to stretches of beaches were closely guarded. On occasion, matters got out of hand, including on this island. In the 1860s James McInerney ran into trouble when six armed men came in a boat to the island. The Freeman’s Journal reported that on seeing James near the shore with a gun “they forcibly took it from him and brought him to his house on the island, where they administered an oath as to whether he had any more arms, and being answered in the negative they went away firing two shots”. The newspaper reported constant bickering between people on the island and those opposite about cutting seaweed.

Scattery Island, out towards the Atlantic, is also known as Saint’s Island due to the proliferation of churches and the founding of a monastery there by St Senan.

This Saint’s Island near Bunratty Castle is one of several in the country, including others on Lough Ree and the famous Lough Derg in Co Donegal which is also home to the famous pilgrimage site of Station Island. There are a couple of stories as to how it came by the name. Johnny McInerney was known as the Saint of Saint’s Island but that appellation obviously predated him.

A folk tale has it that an outlaw with a scar once landed on the island and threatened a Mrs McInerney by demanding her valuables. When she told him she had none and that all she had was the roof over her head and her baby, he replied:

“If there’s nothing else worth taking I’ll take the child. There’s rich folk in London who’d pay good money for a healthy baby boy.” The woman cried out a desperate prayer to all the saints she could name and managed to escape from the man’s clutches and strike him with a milk churn whereupon he fell down dead.

“Mrs McInerney and her child were saved, thanks to all those saints she had prayed to. After that the island was known as Saint’s Island,” went the story.

There is a large enclosure in the centre of the island, again completely overgrown. An archaeological record has yet to be provided but it is likely to be a ringfort. There is another upstream on the opposite bank at Greenish Island.

Saint’s island is a beautiful place to spend a summer’s afternoon watching the bees alighting on the asters and michaelmas daisies.

• How to get there: No ferry. Straightforward kayak from the bridge at Bunratty Castle, Co Clare
• Other: Clare Folk Tales, Ruth Marshall, The History Press