Inishmurray

The island, which is approximately {{cvt|3.75|km|mi|1}} long and {{cvt|0.75|km|mi|1}} wide, is {{cvt|0.9|km2|mi2|1}} in area. It is {{cvt|7|km|mi|1}} from the coast of County Sligo within Donegal Bay.

Inishmurray may be named after the early saint, Muiredach mac Echdach (fl. early 6th century) of Killala.

There are remains of an early Irish monastic settlement. Laisrén (Saint Molaise) Mac Decláin reputedly founded a monastery here in the 6th century. He was confessor of Saint Columba (Colmcille) after the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne on the mainland nearby. His feast day is 12 August.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08640a.htm |title=Killala |year=1910 |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. |publisher=Robert Appleton Company, New York |access-date=11 March 2020}}

The island's ecclesiastical settlement was attacked in 795{{cite book |last1=Roesdahl |first1=Else |title=The Vikings |date=2016 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-141-98476-6 |page=232 |edition=Third}} and again in 807 by the Vikings,{{cite book |title=Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland |last1=Gwynn |first1=Aubrey |last2=Hadcock |first2=R.N. |year=1970 |publisher=Longman, London |isbn=0-582-11229-X |page=387 }} and eventually the monks abandoned the island and it remained uninhabited until the first secular settlement, probably in the 12th century.

The monastery's enclosure wall reaches {{convert|4.5|m|ft}} in height at its highest point and is up to {{convert|3|m|ft}} thick in places.{{cite book |title=Inishmurray: Ancient Monastic Island |last=Heraughty |first=Patrick |year=1982 |publisher=O'Brien, Dublin |isbn=0-86278-473-5 |page=23 }} The site contains various ecclesiastical buildings including enclosures, a stone-roofed oratory, two churches, a clochán, a large beehive-shaped cell, a holy well and other remains including cross slabs suggesting foreign influences. The whole complex is composed of what is probably local sandstone rubble.{{cite web |url=https://voicesfromthedawn.com/inishmurray/ |title=Inshmurray monastic site |date=7 August 2010 |publisher=Voices from the Dawn |access-date=11 March 2020}}

The island's population, which peaked at just over 100 in the 1880s,{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligo/news/reflections-on-living-on-inishmurray-island-off-the-coast-of-north-sligo/a1587846705.html | work = Sligo Champion | title = Reflections on living on Inishmurray island off the coast of North Sligo | date = 11 January 2025 | accessdate = 26 April 2025 | quote = At its peak there were 15 families on the island and 102 people in 1880 but the population had fallen to 46 at the time of the evacuation in 1948 }} were involved in lobster fishing, vegetable farming and grazing cattle.{{Cite magazine |date=1951-01-22 |title=Ireland: The Broth of a King |url=https://time.com/archive/6825051/ireland-the-broth-of-a-king/ |access-date=2025-04-12 |magazine=Time |language=en}} Some locals were also involved in the "illicit" distilling and selling of poitín.{{Cite web |title=Big Capture on Inishmurray - "King" sentenced in Sligo Court |url=http://inishmurray.com/?page_id=888 | date = 7 June 1924 |access-date=2025-04-12 | work = Sligo Independent & West of Ireland Telegraph | via = inishmurray.com}}McTernan, J. C. (n.d.). In Sligo Long Ago: Aspects of the Town & County Over Two Centuries.

The "King of Inishmurray", a customary title used by inhabitants of the island which was similar to the King of Tory,{{cite journal | quote = The shores are inhabited by septs […] which preserve a clannish allegiance to one another, but the islands are ruled by kings. There is a King of Tory and a King of Innismurray" | date=17 March 1917 |title=Ireland's Men of the West |url=https://archive.org/details/literarydigest54newy |journal=The Literary Digest |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls |volume=54 |issue=11 |page=[https://archive.org/details/literarydigest54newy/page/720/ 720] |via=archive.org}} was last claimed by Michael Waters, who died in January 1951.{{Cite web |title=King of Inishmurray, Irish Isle, Dead at 80 | work = St. Louis Review | date = 19 January 1951 | url=https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=SLR19510119-01.2.92.110&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------- |access-date=2025-04-12 |via=thecatholicnewsarchive.org}} Increases in barley and potato prices, during and after The Emergency (World War II), impacted the island's economy. In the 1940s, Waters and the island's 60 remaining inhabitants petitioned the Irish government for new land and were "evacuated" to the mainland of County Sligo in 1948. Inishmurray's last residents left the island on 12 November 1948.{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligo/news/evacuation-of-island-off-the-county-sligo-coast-in-1948-recalled-at-special-gathering/a1771052835.html | website = Sligo Champion | title = Evacuation of island off the County Sligo coast in 1948 recalled at special gathering | first = | last = | date = 27 November 2023 | accessdate = 22 April 2025 }}

Some of the island's abandoned buildings are still visible, including a number of houses and the island's school.{{Cite web |title=List of Placemarks « Inishmurray |url=http://inishmurray.com/?page_id=1187 |access-date=2025-04-12 | website = inishmurray.com}} The monastery site remained a pilgrimage destination into the early 21st century.{{fact|date=April 2025}}

In 2018, the Marine Survey Office of the Department of Transport barred commercial operators from landing visitors on the island, due to "concerns for safety during embarking and disembarking".{{cite news |title=Minister to intervene in row over access to historic island |author=McDonagh, Marese |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/transport-and-tourism/minister-to-intervene-in-row-over-access-to-historic-island-1.3470299 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=23 April 2018 |access-date=11 March 2020}} As of August 2019, landing facilities had not been developed and,{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligo/news/no-innishmurray-solution-until-2020/38342726.html | work = Sligo Champion | title = No Innishmurray solution until 2020 | first = Sorcha | last = Crowley | date = 3 August 2019 | accessdate = 22 April 2025 }} as of March 2023, the development had yet to progress.{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligo/news/plug-pulled-on-proposal-for-new-landing-facility-on-inishmurray-island-off-sligo-coast/42379429.html | work = Sligo Champion | title = Plug pulled on proposal for new landing facility on Inishmurray Island off Sligo coast | date = 10 March 2023 | accessdate = 22 April 2025 | first = Gerry | last = McLaughlin }}{{update-inline|date=April 2025}}

• List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Sligo)

• Jerry O'Sullivan and Tomas O Carragain: Inishmurray: Archaeological survey and excavations 1997-2000, Collins, Cork, 2008, {{ISBN|9781905172474}}
• Joe McGowan: Inishmurray: Island Voices, Aeolus Publications, 2004, {{ISBN|0-9521334-3-1}}.
• John Haywood: The Historical Atlas of the Celtic World, Thames & Hudson, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-500-28831-3}}.
• Emer Condit, Jerry O'Sullivan: Inishmurray: An Island Off County Sligo, Archaeology Ireland, 2002. {{JSTOR|archirel.18.1}}.

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Inishmurray}}

• [http://inishmurray.com Inishmurray website]

{{County Sligo}}

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Category:Christian monasteries in the Republic of Ireland

Category:Important Bird Areas of the Republic of Ireland

Category:Islands of County Sligo

Category:National monuments in County Sligo

Category:Uninhabited islands of Ireland