Islands of Ireland: Beeve’s Rock linked to 'wicked witch' who 'haunted the rocks'

Beeve’s Rock is as much an island as the crannógs of the Iron Age and any sailor adrift there might be damn glad of its solidity

Beeve's Rock with lighthouse in the Shannon Estuary, Co Clare. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

If one of the criteria for being an island is habitability then our island lighthouses certainly merit inclusion in this series. Skellig Michael and Inishtrahull in Co Donegal are both huge islands with lighthouses where lighthouse keepers lived for many decades and which would be included here with or without large buildings. Others are much smaller but nonetheless are islands, though predominantly manmade.

One such is Beeve’s Rock in the Shannon Estuary, which, though built on a rocky outcrop in the mudflats of the river, is an island by most definitions. No acreage is relevant here and no description of lovely walks to take around the island will be given, though that can be managed in about 30 seconds.