The ancient monastic island of Inishmurray, abandoned since the 1940s, still has a store of intriguing tales to tell, writes Paddy Clancy.
Ghosts, a roaring poteen trade and a war hero who came back from the dead: all are the subjects of a new book about life on Inishmurray, a tiny island 10 miles off Co Sligo, before it was abandoned, more than a half-century ago. The book, Inishmurray: Island Voices, by Joe McGowan, recalls mainly in islanders' words what life was like.
The guest of honour at the book's launch was Inishmurray's oldest native-born survivor, Patrick Heraughty, who was joined by members of other island families. The 92-year-old former GP lived on the island until 1936, when he qualified as a doctor - "the same year King Edward abdicated," he recalls. But he returned every year to visit his mother and a sister.
Heraughty can clearly remember a key event from his childhood: the return of John Donlon, a sailor, from the dead. "He was in the merchant navy in Glasgow, and he transferred to the Royal Navy when war broke out. After the Battle of Jutland [on May 31st, 1916] he was reported missing, presumed dead. The War Office sent whatever money was due, and a bonus, to his mother on Inishmurray. The first thing she did was to have a requiem Mass said at Grange, on the mainland. Then, in 1919, the man for whom the requiem Mass was said walked in the door, safe and well. That was three or four years after he was reported dead. There had been some error in entering his name in the prison camp in Germany, and that is how the mix-up occurred."
Inishmurray is an ancient monastic settlement named after a follower of St Patrick. It never had more than 110 residents - that was in 1881, when they shared 15 houses - and the most Heraughty remembers when he lived there was 72. Gradually, emigration and the hardships of island life prompted Inishmurray's last residents to abandon it, in 1948.
McGowan, who grew up across the sea in north Co Sligo, spoke to several survivors or their kin as he researched the book. He was delighted when one of the families gave him tapes of conversations with Joe Neilan, a Co Sligo seanachaí who spent every spare minute on Inishmurray, married a girl from the island and eventually became an islander himself. Described as the last Irish speaker in Co Sligo, Neilan recorded his recollections in 1975, shortly before his death. "The insights to island life gained by the discovery of these tapes ranks them as the Inishmurray equivalent of the Dead Sea scrolls," says McGowan.
McGowan paints a hilarious picture of the men from the Royal Irish Constabulary who would travel to Inishmurray in search of illegal stills for making poteen, which islanders referred to as whiskey. Because Streedagh, where they left the mainland, lacked a proper harbour, local fisherman would give them piggybacks to awaiting boats, wading through the sea with their trousers rolled up.
The policemen usually received a friendly welcome, probably because, even though they were on a mission to shut down the stills, they would also bring groceries and other supplies for the islanders. "These innocent-looking bundles often contained supplies of yeast and other materials used in the manufacture of poteen," writes McGowan. "The letters, too, often contained orders for island whiskey from customers on the mainland." Warned by signal fires that the police were on their way, islanders would row out west of Inishmurray with their stills, staying out of sight until the invaders left. McGowan, who also ferries tourists to Inishmurray, says he was inspired to write the book "through an enchantment with island life".
Inishmurray: Island Voices is published by Aolus 2004, €21.95 in hardback, €15.95 in paperback; Excalibur Island Tours offers day trips to Inishmurray from Mullaghmore harbour, Co Sligo. Contact Keith Clarke (087-2540190) or Joe McGowan (joe_mcgowan@hotmail.com)
