Sailing to the now unpopulated island of Sherky

Dan MacCarthy visits Sherky Island off the coast of Co Kerry.

WHEN islands become depopulated the former residents often live within sight of their former home. The view out to sea, a familiar road, nearby friends and family all provide a lure too great to overpower. It is as if they cannot bear to be separated from their birthplace.

Of course, many emigrated to far-flung destinations, but for many others the pull of home was too strong to break. It is as true of Roaringwaterbay whose islanders settled along the coast from Baltimore to Schull as it is true of say, Co Donegal where former islanders moved from its islands to places such as Falcarragh and Burtonport.

And so it is true of the now unpopulated Sherky Island in Kenmare River, Co Kerry, whose 82 acres once boasted a population of nine hardy souls. This Sherky is not to be confused with the more famous Sherkin Island in Co Cork or Inishark in Co Galway.

Sherky is the largest island in an archipelago just off from the Parknasilla estate at Sneem on the Iveragh Peninsula. It has two immediate fellows in Illaunanandan and Inishkeragh which together with Sherky are regarded as part of the larger island though they are islands in their own right as their names attest.

Nearby are the simply named Potato Island, a mere spud of an island in comparison to the comparatively huge platter of Sherky, and Inishkeelaghmore which is nicknamed Cannonball Island as its slate flank appears to have a target painted on.

Kenmare River is a bay of course but was described as a river by various lords Lansdowne to enable them to snaffle the fishing rights. At 1km in length Sherky is much larger than its neighbours. It is largely covered with a dense undergrowth of furze bushes and brambles and with several marshes does not leave much grazing for sheep. However, some families did live on the island in the 19th century when land was much less available, including the ancestors of local part-time farmer John Gallivan. He recalls his family fondly which had royal connections of a sort.

“My great grandmother came from Lauragh and she was known as the Queen of Sherky. She had children including Stephen, Jim, John, Mike, Denis, Patrick, Eileen, Nora, Mary and Kate. My aunt was also known as the Queen of Sherky.”

The picture below from around 1910 shows The Queen with her children including John’s grandfather who is wearing a pocket watch he got in America. In the picture the family are preparing to go to a wedding. Life on the island was simple but integral. There were a couple of houses one of which was later used to build a pier.

“They had cows for grazing. They were self-sufficient. They had their own garden, and they fished too of course,” says John. There are two spring wells on the island and an overgrown graveyard which almost certainly contains his forebears.

Ellen O’Brien, second left, with her children Michael, Mary and John who lived on the island. Ellen was known as the Queen of Sherky.

The family left in the 1930s. “A Dutchman bought it from my uncles in the 1960s and it was sold after that again,” he says. Sure enough, when the Irish Examiner visited, among the detritus of the old cottage was a book in Dutch ‘Het Kind van de Lust, (The Child of Lust’) by Italian novelist Gabriel D’Annunzio. A coin lay on a dusty table with the inscription ‘Beatrix Koningen Der Nederlanden’.

A recent visitor to this page was the adjacent island of Illaunslea where the youthful Peter Somerville Large spent summers with his brother and parents. The travel writer also explored Sherky, or Sherkey, and gives a vivid description in his memoir, An Irish Childhood.

“No humans lived on Sherkey. As we moved over the abandoned fields we lifted hares that so far had escaped the hare hunts and ran before us; thousands of butterflies. peacocks, red admirals and toirtoseshells, hovered over the thistles and clover. And if it was a year when cattle had been swum over to graze among the wild orchids there would be mushrooms, either small and white, scattered by the dozen, or bog horse mushrooms, the size of cow pats.”

The island is again in private ownership but for John Gallivan still waters run deep: “If I had the money I’d buy back Sherky.”

How to get there:

- Inquire at Oysterbed Pier or kayak.

Other:

- An Irish Childhood, Peter Somerville Large, Constable

Thanks to fisherman Gerry Casey and G Noel for facilitating this trip