Islands of Ireland: Just three people live on Clynish where there was once a village

Clynish, Clew Bay, County Mayo. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

It’s hard to fathom the population density of Clew Bay today in comparison with its peak in the 19th century: just a handful of the upwards of its 200 or so islands are now inhabited.

From the vantage point of say Inishnakillew in the centre of the bay or Dorinish in the south the eye takes in dozens and dozens of islands with many more out of view. It was not so surprising that the population reached more than 1,000 but that it stayed so high for so long.

Where once the waters between the islands teemed with fishermen and much coming and going in boats to the towns and villages along the bay now the activities relate to some water sports with much-reduced fishing.

As the recent storms last month demonstrated, the bay can be subject to vicious winds which rip in from the Atlantic. Storm Isha was recorded in January at a station on Inishlyre with wind speeds of 150kph which is almost enough to lift the roof of a modern house let alone roofs from centuries past. Isha was immediately followed by Storm Jocelyn, as if a reminder were needed.

One of the islands in Clew Bay provides a typical example of population loss in the 19th century — a situation which prevails to this day. Clynish is located in the centre of the bay just 300m from the shore and closely surrounded by several other islands.

In 1841 the population stood at 87 before the intervention of the Famine destroyed the lives of the people and put to flight those lucky enough to survive. The Ordnance Survey shows a number of houses, almost a village, clustered around the south of the island where it is more sheltered. Today, a few bare ruins are extant where once a thriving community existed. Some of the inhabitants may have travelled to Chicago or Cleveland which were popular among County Mayo people.

By 1911 the population was down to 23 according to the census which records the Moore family living there: husband Anthony and wife Bridget with their six children ranging in age from 23 down to eight. A second Moore family had four children. There were also the Gavins with eight family members. Today, just three people live on Clynish. Not counting the islands connected by causeway, Clynish and Inishlyre are the only Clew Bay islands with year-round inhabitants.

The desperate situation of tenant farmers in the Famine prevailed also in the following decades, but to a lesser degree. In 1870 word reached Westport that a fever had broken out on Clynish and that the authorities sought that the buildings on the island be whitewashed in an attempt to curtail whatever disease was causing the fever (probably cholera).

And a delegation of islanders from Clynish, Inishraher, Inishlyre and others in 1887 went to the agent of Lord Sligo to appeal for a reduction in rents. Speaking on behalf of the islanders, a Reverend Bernard McDermott stated to the agent of the owner of the islands, Lord Sligo, that he did not know of one islander who had been able to save more than a third of his crop that year due to bad weather.

“They were blown away by storms and carried away by high tides, and what was worse, their potatoes failed,” the Sligo Champion reported. One islander said that were it not for some income they received from the ballasting of boats in the bay they would be utterly destitute. Unsurprisingly, the islanders’ appeal fell on deaf ears and the negative answer would have contributed to the decision to abandon the island by some people.

Clynish is the anglicisation of Claínis, meaning the Island of the Ditch or Enclosure, though there is no archaeological record of such an enclosure. Unsurprisingly, the island went through myriad versions including the 16th-century Island of Alyinis, Cloinish, Clynish, and Claidhinis.

Today, Clynish is a very well-maintained island and grazed by cattle who enjoy one magnificent view of Croagh Patrick and the islands strung along the bay like beads on a necklace.

How to get there: Clynish is privately owned.

Other: census.nationalarchives.ie

Sligo Champion 15/07/1887

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