Islands of Ireland: Mason Island — is it named after buttocks?

A lake on this island off the coast of Galway is called 'Loch na dTaisbhsi' (Lake of the Ghosts)

Mason Island County Galway. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

The small pier on the western side of this Connemara island provides a perfect starting point to explore this lovely place. Where the roads on some islands have disappeared completely or got submerged in bracken and furze, Mason’s roads feel like they have been well maintained — but no one walks them now apart from a few summer visitors and perhaps the ghosts of old. A veritable thoroughfare rises and falls the length of the (admittedly small, 1km) island and several avenues lead off from it enticing the eye over the next hillock or around the bend. The late writer, Tim Robinson, wrote that the roads’ pattern was designed by the Congested Districts Board which also parcelled off parallel strips of land as a way of maximising farming efficiency.

Like several of the islands midway between the town of Clifden and the Aran Islands, Mason explodes with wildlflowers in the spring and summer, not least several varieties of colourful orchids. Fair enough, this landing was in summer when everything looks good, even the ruins, of which there are no shortage.