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Great Blasket Island
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Great Blasket Island
The Great Blasket (Irish: An Blascaod Mór) is the principal island of the Blaskets, County Kerry, Ireland. It was home to a small fishing community of Irish speakers until the island was abandoned in 1953 when living there became unsustainable.
The island lies approximately two kilometres from the mainland at Dunmore Head, and extends six kilometres to the southwest, rising to 346 m (1,135 ft) at its highest point (An Cró Mór). The nearest mainland town is Dunquin; a ferry to the island operates from a nearby pier during summer months.
Garraun Point at 52°06′16″N 10°30′27″W / 52.1045°N 10.5074°W has been incorrectly cited as being the most westerly point of the Irish mainland, but this is Dunmore Head. At longitude 10° 39.7', Tearaght Island is the westernmost of the Blaskets, and thus the most westerly point of the republic of Ireland.
The Great Blasket has been inhabited on and off for centuries. The earliest known reference to people living on the island was at the start of the 1700s. A Ferriter castle once stood at Rinn an Chaisleáin. In the 1840s it was estimated that a population of about 150 people were living on the island. It was the most westerly settlement in Ireland, with islanders mostly living in primitive cottages perched on the relatively sheltered north-east shore. They subsisted mainly by fishing, supplementing their diet with potato, oats, hunting rabbits and the eggs of birds who nested on the island; due to lack of wood they had to use heather, peat and turf as fuel.
Around 1909 and 1910, the Congested Districts Board built five properties to improve the housing stock on the island. A two storey guesthouse was built later.
Island life was very tough and the draw of emigration was strong, ultimately becoming the death knell for the Island. During WWII shortages of sugar, soap, tea, paraffin, tobacco and flour/bread intensified this draw further.
The weather was a present and constant hazard. In April 1947, the island was cut off from the mainland for weeks due to bad weather. The Islanders sent a telegram to the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, urgently requesting supplies which duly arrived two days later by boat.
The island was inhabited until 1954 when the Irish government decided that it could no longer guarantee the safety of the remaining but rapidly declining population. Previously, the Islanders had been petitioning for relocation following the death of Seánín Ó Cearnaigh. Ó Cearnaigh had become ill and as a result of poor weather, no doctor or priest could reach the island. Continued inclement weather prevented his body being taken to the consecrated graveyard across the Blasket Sound in Dunquin for a number of days. It was this tragic event that led the Islanders to realise there was no continued prospect of a viable community remaining on the island.
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Great Blasket Island
The Great Blasket (Irish: An Blascaod Mór) is the principal island of the Blaskets, County Kerry, Ireland. It was home to a small fishing community of Irish speakers until the island was abandoned in 1953 when living there became unsustainable.
The island lies approximately two kilometres from the mainland at Dunmore Head, and extends six kilometres to the southwest, rising to 346 m (1,135 ft) at its highest point (An Cró Mór). The nearest mainland town is Dunquin; a ferry to the island operates from a nearby pier during summer months.
Garraun Point at 52°06′16″N 10°30′27″W / 52.1045°N 10.5074°W has been incorrectly cited as being the most westerly point of the Irish mainland, but this is Dunmore Head. At longitude 10° 39.7', Tearaght Island is the westernmost of the Blaskets, and thus the most westerly point of the republic of Ireland.
The Great Blasket has been inhabited on and off for centuries. The earliest known reference to people living on the island was at the start of the 1700s. A Ferriter castle once stood at Rinn an Chaisleáin. In the 1840s it was estimated that a population of about 150 people were living on the island. It was the most westerly settlement in Ireland, with islanders mostly living in primitive cottages perched on the relatively sheltered north-east shore. They subsisted mainly by fishing, supplementing their diet with potato, oats, hunting rabbits and the eggs of birds who nested on the island; due to lack of wood they had to use heather, peat and turf as fuel.
Around 1909 and 1910, the Congested Districts Board built five properties to improve the housing stock on the island. A two storey guesthouse was built later.
Island life was very tough and the draw of emigration was strong, ultimately becoming the death knell for the Island. During WWII shortages of sugar, soap, tea, paraffin, tobacco and flour/bread intensified this draw further.
The weather was a present and constant hazard. In April 1947, the island was cut off from the mainland for weeks due to bad weather. The Islanders sent a telegram to the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, urgently requesting supplies which duly arrived two days later by boat.
The island was inhabited until 1954 when the Irish government decided that it could no longer guarantee the safety of the remaining but rapidly declining population. Previously, the Islanders had been petitioning for relocation following the death of Seánín Ó Cearnaigh. Ó Cearnaigh had become ill and as a result of poor weather, no doctor or priest could reach the island. Continued inclement weather prevented his body being taken to the consecrated graveyard across the Blasket Sound in Dunquin for a number of days. It was this tragic event that led the Islanders to realise there was no continued prospect of a viable community remaining on the island.
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