Islands of Ireland: Vicious currents, no easy landing spot - but Illaunbrock makes a great lookout
Illaunbrock, County Cork, between Cape Clear and Sherkin islands
There is no landing place of any description on this island: no strand on which to drift in, no ledge on which to alight, no manmade object of any description... and last but not least, no person to advise you where you might pull in your craft amid turbulent waves.
In short, Illaunbrock, located between Cape Clear Island and Sherkin in County Cork, is the very definition of inhospitable. Add into the above picture a place usually associated with heaving seas and howling winds and possessed of currents so vicious that they would make Homer's fabled Scylla and Charybdis look like a benign force, and you get the picture of a truly inhospitable place. This area is called the Gascannane Sound and it has seen several fatalities over the years. That French-sounding name derives from Gaisceanán, ‘noisy place’ — which scarcely does it justice.
Illaunbrock is flanked to the north by the Crab Rocks and the west by a reef called Carrigmore and through this sound passes the Cape Clear ferry en route to Baltimore and that passage is probably the safest place from which to observe this island.
To effect a landing here, the conditions need to be perfect: no wind, a high tide, and the proverbial mirror-like conditions. So, these conditions need to be bang on before a landing on Illaunbrock can even be contemplated. This summer, when the seas haven't been roiling, the wind has been blowing hard, or fog has enveloped the coast, so even the thought of boarding a boat most of the time was outlandish. And yet, just occasionally the skies clear, some divine force seems to talk the seas into submission, and the currents work out their intractable issues so that there is a window of opportunity. And lastly, all you need is a boat and a skipper. This island is too far for this meagre kayaker. And lo! A willing relative and a fast RIB offer the perfect combination. And with a fair wind and non-existent swell, Illaunbrock is reached in 20 minutes from Baltimore. The engine cuts 20 metres from shore and it is possible to step ashore.
The first noticeable thing about Illaunbrock is its shape. On a map it looks like a giant molar with long roots, while face-on it resembles a giant wedge, with the narrow side towards Sherkin, and rising towards its summit of about 30m on the Cape side where steep cliffs swathed in lichen fall to the sea. There is a storm beach on that side of this four-acre island but landing there is impossible across an approach strewn with reefs. The cliffs are called Foilabearna or ‘cliffs of the gap’ and are part of the same system of steep terrain on the western tip of Sherkin just 100m away where Foilaneil, Foildonagha and Foilatruhane can be found. Above them, the imposing mass of the hundred-metre Slieve More dominates the topography.
Looking across to Inis Arcain (Sherkin Island) from Oileán Broc (Illaunbrock). The latter means island of the badgers. It doesn't seem likely that badgers lived on this exposed rocky islet so I wonder how it got its name? #seabirdsurvey #RoaringwaterBay pic.twitter.com/pPfrxMY9HS
— Glengarriff Woods NR (@GlengarriffWood) May 1, 2019
The island is very craggy but surprisingly has a decent carpet of flora with sea thrift, sea bindweed, saltbrush and chamomile. There is much birdlife, though dominated by gulls, as you would expect.
This is the only Illaunbrock in the country which is unusual in itself as any other island named after an animal has many iterations: Horse [link below], Cow, Sheep, Goat etc.
The island was known by its English name, Badgers Island or Brock Island, officially at least, in 1841 but in a Gaeltacht area the Irish ‘Oilean na mBroc’ held sway. There is scant cover for badgers on the island so how it came to be so known is a puzzle. One suggestion is that black and white rock on the island resembled a badger’s colours and hence the name. However, underneath its cover of grass is enough soil to provide badgers with all the earthworms they need, supplemented by a plentiful supply of birds’ eggs. So, it is possible that the mammal did live there.
In spite of its hostile nature, Illaunbrock is a lovely island with great character and a magnificent spot to observe its two huge neighbours as well as the passing traffic.
: Best observed from the passing Cape Clear ferry.
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