Inishtrahull
| Inishtrahull Irish: Inis Trá Tholl | |
 The lighthouse on Inishtrahull | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Location: | 55°25’48"N, 7°14’2"W |
| Grid reference: | C439548 |
| Area: | 84 acres |
| Highest point: | 160 feet |
| Data | |
| Population: | Uninhabited |
Inishtrahull is an uninhabited island which lies in the Atlantic Ocean to the north of Malin Head, and forms the northernmost isle of County Donegal, and consequently the northernmost island of the Republic of Ireland. The actual most northerly point of the Republic of Ireland and of County Donegal is the Tor Beg Rock, another half a mile to the north.[1]
Inishtrahull has an area of 84 acres[2] and lies about six miles north-east of Malin Head. The island's name is from the Gaelic Inis Trá Tholl, meaning "island of the hollow/empty beach").
On Inishtrahull stands the Inishtrahull Lighthouse, Ireland's northernmost lighthouse. The island had a resident community until 1929 and the lighthouse was manned until 1987. Today it is uninhabited and has been designated a protected area due to its wildlife.
Geology
The island is formed of a granitic gneiss, a type of metamorphic rock, which is known as Inishtrahull Gneiss. It is dated at 1.7 billion years old, making it Paleoproterozoic in age, and is the oldest known rock on the Irish Islands. The Inishtrahull Gneiss is considered to form part of the Rhinns complex that is also exposed on the islands of Islay and Colonsay. The Rhinns complex is correlated with the Ketilidian metamorphic belt of southern Greenland and the Svecofennian of Scandinavia.[3]
Biology
Among the alga Bonnemaisonia asparagoides, Callophyllis laciniata, Kalymenia reniformis, Sphaerococcus coronopifolius, Lomentaria articulate, Lomentaria orcadensis, Rhodymenia pseudopalmata, Plumaria plumose, Ceramium shuttleworthianum, Heterosiphonia plumose, Nitophyllum punctatum, Hypoglossum hypoglossoides, Drachiella spectabilis, Odonthalia dentate, Osmundea pinnatifida, Polysiphonia lanosa, Polysiphonia stricta, Enteromorpha intestinalis, Ulva lactuca, Fucus spiralis, Fucus serratus and Ascophyllum nodosum have been recorded.[4]
The islanders
The island is now uninhabited but had a resident community until 1929 and lighthousekeepers until 1987. The evacuation of the community from Inistrahull took place en-bloc in 1929. The matter was raised in a Dáil debate on illegal fishing in November, 1929 by the Teachta Dála for the area, Frank Carney.[5] The Deputy stated that Inishtrahull was one of the few places in the country where the population had actually increased by almost 100% from 1881 to 1901. He said that the people on the island had a school and a graveyard and earned their livelihood from the fishing industry with very small boats for inshore fishing and that they could line fish and fish with nets during the herring season. Carney said that ordinarily they were able to make a reasonable living. However, he said that because of illegal fishing by “Scotch and English trawlers and French fishing smacks” the islanders had been compelled some weeks earlier to evacuate the island, desert their homes and leave only a lighthousekeeper behind.
Responding the Minister for Fisheries, Fionán Lynch said that he did not agree that the people had left the island because of illegal fishing and was making enquiries as to their current circumstances. The Minister said that he “would like to feel that everything was being done to keep them from being a permanent charge on home assistance”. The Minister later sent a Principal Officer from his Department to report on their circumstances. The Minister then reported in the Dáil that “four of the [six Inistrahull] families derived their livelihood from the Irish Lights boat service to the island, in which they are still able to engage” and that there was no case state intervention. He also said that his Officer’s report indicated that the resettled Islanders were not in “poor circumstances”.[6]
Last sight of Ireland
Inishtrahull houses the northernmost Irish lighthouse, run by the Commissioners of Irish Lights. It was first put into operation in 1813 largely because ships of the Royal Navy had begun to use Lough Foyle. Today its light flashes every 30 seconds.[7] A new lighthouse was built in 1956, and the ruins of the original may be seen today, close to the modern one.
Over the centuries, many of the countless emigrants who sailed from Ireland for the New World, especially those who sailed from Londonderry, passed Inistrahull, and its lighthouse bore a special significance as the last sight of Ireland. One emigrant recalled:
“[The voyage] was quite pleasant for a while. There was, however, one milestone to pass, Inishtrahull lighthouse off the coast of Donegal was the last glimpse emigrants would have of Ireland [and] everyone stayed on deck until it disappeared. They stayed on when they couldn’t see it anymore because the more keen sighted kept saying it is still there. When the sharp eyed ones admitted the light had faded all frivolity ceased, handkerchiefs came out and there was much sniffing as we drifted to our staterooms. The next stop was New York”
Wildlife
Inishtrahull is well known for its wildlife and is designated a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.[8]
The island's geographical location and lighthouse attract many unusual birds, as well as a population of grey seals. The island and its adjacent tidal sound 300 feet in depth attract basking sharks and whales in large numbers during the summer months. The island may be uninhabited, but it is not deserted as scuba-divers use the island's Port Mór as a lunch spot while out surveying the hundreds of wrecks off its shores.
Access to the island is limited by the dangerous tides and currents around Malin Head and the island itself. There are landing restrictions enforced by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Commissioners of Irish Lights (present owners of the Island). Particular care is requested by visitors during the breeding period for seabirds of May to July.
References
- ↑ Sky and Stone - A Journey North by Andy McInroy
- ↑ Per Ivar Haug, Gazetteer of Ireland, Trondheim University 2007.
- ↑ Muir, R.J.; Fitches W.R.; Maltman A.J. (1994). "The Rhinns Complex: Proterozoic basement on Islay and Colonsay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland, and on Inishtrahull, NW Ireland". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences (Royal Society of Edinburgh) 85 (1): 77–90. doi:10.1017/s0263593300006313. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8344451. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
- ↑ Morton, O. 2003. The marine macroalgae of County Donegal, Ireland. Bulletin Irish Biogeographic Society 27: 3 - 164
- ↑ 14 November 1929 Dáil Debate
- ↑ 10 April 1930 Dáil Debate
- ↑ Irish Lights Commissioners
- ↑ Inishtrahull SAC, npws.ie; accessed 7 November 2016.
- The book of Inishtrahull by Sean Beattie
- Local Island history collection by Des Mills
- Irish national parks and wildlife service
- Commissioner of Irish lights
- Wildlife of Ireland
