Islands of Ireland: Annagh Island - at low tide, people, cattle, and cars can get here

There were plans once for a causeway/embankment road between Annagh Island and the mainland but this building project never went ahead

The low-lying Annagh Island, east of Achill Island, County Mayo. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

Several Irish islands are involved in the great pilgrimages undertaken by such as Saint Patrick but few are connected to our great mythological literature. The Táin Bó Cúailnge relates the episodes of a war between Queen Medb of Connacht and the king of Ulster supported by the famous Cú Chulainn.

However, there was an earlier part of what is known as the Ulster cycle concerning some of the same characters. The Táin Bó Flidhais relates the tale of the eponymous Flidhais and her tribe the Gamhanraidh who carried out a daring raid against a rival tribe amid betrayals sexual and political. Part of the action of this epic, set around 50AD to 500AD, takes place at Annagh Island in County Mayo. One of the main characters, Engan, passed along the island in search of a rath and a rendezvous.

His mission was to carry a message from the rival tribe to the Gamhanraidh. The task was essential too as recorded in the following verse “Up, Engan, and away! / Summon our people;/ Make for us, as hastily as possible,/ Their gathering and muster/ Here are of hosts, I ween,/ The four great provinces of Ireland, /Commanded by Oilill and Meave from Magh (Ai);

By fierce Angus and Lugaid.” The story takes place against the backdrop of the arrival of Christianity to Ireland and features the original races to arrive in the land: the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fir Bolg. Annagh Island, in truth, was peripheral to the story but can claim a connection to the great epic.

Have you conquered Slievemore, Achill Island's second-tallest peak? 🏞️

If you plan to, don't miss the hidden gem below - Annagh Strand, the island's secret beach! 🌊

For more: https://t.co/mCHDVemJMa pic.twitter.com/2Q6bsGAUQN

— Mayo.ie (@MayoDotIE) October 16, 2023

The island lies to the east of Achill Island, County Mayo and to the west of the Ballycroy National Park. The entire area is part of an international Dark Sky Reserve, one of only two in the country along with Ballinskelligs, County Kerry.

This is one of two Annagh Islands in County Mayo and one of many places called Annagh around the country. The word translates from the Irish as ‘marshy or ‘swampy’ ground. And if ever a place were better named, then Annagh Island had not been visited.

Trying to alight from a boat on its western flank recently proved to be a difficult task. As there is no pier there, a punt can only get so close through the rubble-strewn shoreline. After that, a wade through seaweed and then bog is required before a landing is achieved.

Because of its topography of blanket bog, Annagh Island was only ever going to have a very small population... if any. Google satellite images shows an almost entirely brown-coloured island with a tiny patch of green standing out, like John B Keane’s field. Beside that patch are a couple of houses with another on the eastern shore.

Apart from Achill, it has a couple of other neighbouring islands in the scrap of Inishagoo and the delightful, rustic haven of Inishbiggle.

There is a marked contrast between the pair of islands however, as Inishbiggle has had a relatively big population for several hundred years peaking at 162 in 1926 and with a current population of 12. Annagh Island’s population peaked at 12 in 1841 with only an occasional visitor today.

One of the main functions of Annagh Island has been as a transit point from the mainland to Inishbiggle. At 627 acres, Annagh Island is the smaller of the pair by a mere two acres. At low tide, people as well as cars, can move between the islands to the mainland.

The islands’ relative isolation in a very blustery bay has led to repeated calls over the years for a cable car that would have linked Inishbiggle to the mainland via Inishagoo. In the late 80s other ideas were advanced to avail of EU structural funds which would have facilitated access to the islands. These included a multispan bridge from Bullsmouth on Achill to Inishbiggle and a causeway/ embankment road to the mainland via Annagh Island. None of the projects materialised.

In the 1960s children from Annagh Island attended school on Inishbiggle “when the tide was out, arriving at 11am and leaving again in the early afternoon in order to return home early”.

How to get there: Possible to walk at low tide.

Other: https://celt.ucc.ie/published; Mayo News, Dec 23, 1998