inishmurray

This bare and treeless island, often inaccessible because of rough seas and lack of a proper quay, lies 4 miles north-west of Streedagh Point. Charter boat trips leave from Mullaghmore harbour in suitable conditions, the 9-mile crossing taking about 1.5 hours. On the island, abandoned by its small beleaguered population in the 1950s, are a wealth of remains of the early Christian period. The original monastery was founded in the sixth century by St. Molaise and several of the later buildings bear his name. Despite some suspect restoration work carried out in the nineteenth century, mainly on the enclosing wall, the complex provides a substantially authentic picture of the layout of a Celtic monastery. The cashel wall is ovoid in plan, the interior divided into four parts, in the largest of which is Teampull na bFhear, 'the Men's Church.' a pre-Romanesque building with trabeate doorway, and a small stone-roofed church or oratory known as Teach Molaise; it too has a lintelled doorway on which a simple cross is inscribed. In another sub-enclosure to the north-west is Teampull na Teine, 'Church of the Fire;, also a well preserved drystone clochan, formerly inhabited by the monks and more recently utilised as the island schoolhouse.