Islands of Ireland: Mud and a naming mystery at Cork's Marshy Islands
Islands of Ireland: Marshy Islands lie between Creagh and Inishbeg between Baltimore and Skibbereen, County Cork. Picture: Dan MacCarthy
Scarcely can there be an island wedged between two places of such historic interest but with so little to say for itself. Such is the distinction for a group of islands (archipelago is too fanciful a term in this case) in West Cork.
Just outside the village of Baltimore, where the sizeable island of Inishbeg nestles athwart the River Ilen in a magnificent rustic setting of dense woodland, meandering river, and even a chapel, to complement nature’s hand, lie the Marshy Islands.
Inishbeg is connected to the mainland by a short causeway through whose small arched bridge the southern channel flows. ‘Flows’ may be too active a term for, in truth, this part of the Ilen is dominated by a sea of mud on which multiple waders feed on the denizens of the deep sludge.
There are three islands on which thick banks of reeds flourish. The larger is C-shaped with an island half its size almost within its grasp. Slightly to the north is the third part to complete the set. A tiny channel of water separates the main island from Inishbeg and it is possible to kayak along there at high tide under the towering trees of Inishbeg.
The three islands together form a size of only about 50m by 40m. Why they merited a name in the first place is curious as there are several other larger islands to the west of the causeway, and others further downstream at Ringarogy’s causeway, which are unnamed. The naming is probably connected to the historic occupants of Inishbeg, or at Creagh on the road to Skibbereen, the landlord family Becher Wrixons.
There are several words in the English language for such tiny islands as the Marshy Islands which are found in rivers. A small island in a river or lake is an eyot or ait, though this usage chiefly relates to London; holm is also a small island, especially one in a river or lake. A bitmay is a small island in a river that connects to the mainland when the river is low, as in the Marshy Islands, though this term is not in use in Ireland.
The Irish ‘oileánrach’, for group of islands is more applicable or perhaps ‘glasoileán’, meaning an island that can be reached at low tide.
There is a slight confusion over the name of these islands. The six-inch Ordnance Survey map from 1837 to 1842 records them as ‘Marsh’s Islands’ (or the islands of a person called Marsh) but a later map has them as ‘Marshy Islands’. No such person as Marsh is recorded on the adjacent burial site at Creagh cemetery as they would almost definitely have been when they died. In all likelihood, the later name of Marshy Islands is the correct one and we can conclude that ‘Marsh’s Islands’ was a typo!
The cemetery of Creagh is one of the two areas of historic interest within touching distance of the Marshy Islands and Inishbeg itself is the other. One of the most notable burials is that of the former curate at Creagh estate, Canon James Goodman. He established a considerable collection of Irish music and was professor of Irish at Trinity College. As part of its comprehensive analysis of old graveyards in West Cork, the Skibbereen Heritage Centre recently catalogued the names of virtually all of the burials at Creagh.
Inishbeg featured towards the start of this series with the story of Kay MacCarthy Morrow (Summersby) who was born on Inishbeg and who went on to become the driver for the supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Second World War, and later president of the US, General Dwight D Eisenhower. Today, the island is as magnificent as it was in her day and its private gardens are open to the public.
In between Creagh cemetery and Inishbeg the Marshy Islands lurk unnoticed.
: You can drive to Inishbeg, 9km south of Skibbereen, County Cork on the road to Baltimore. Kayak to the Marshy Islands from Inishbeg bridge and complete Inishbeg circuit on high tide for a beautiful trip.
, Kay Summersby (Werner Laurie).
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