HISTORY

The name begins to tell a history: all around the Irish coast, islands were known principally by what one could see on them. So, Inish Bofin, for example, is "island of the white cow", and so on. Inish Turk Beg has come through millennia as a partially submerged drumlin, with clay and rock as its main soil.

Clew Bay has forever been a far-flung part of Ireland, at the end of dwindling roads, and accessed only by the wild Atlantic seas of the west coast. This made it home to only the bravest seafarers, including the redoubtable Grainnuaile, dubbed the "Pirate Queen of Ireland". At one time, too, Westport and Newport were important trading ports, with the outer islands acting as transfer points for goods to move between the ocean-going ships and the "‘lighters", which could navigate the bay’s rocky waters into the havens.

On the island itself, agriculture has always been a mainstay occupation -- sheep, pigs, cattle, and in the last few centuries, potatoes. It is the classic, raised potato rill, or drill, which gives the land all around Inish Turk Beg its signature "rippled" look, which is now reflected in our logo. And, to take care of all this activity, the island was home to a large number of families, with a village building up around the pier on the south shore. The ruins of these dwellings are now preserved around our boathouse.

Inish Turk Beg also was host to a number of boat-builders, who laboured against wind and tide to produce vessels uniquely configured for the big seas of the bay, and especially the following seas, which push us home, sometimes with an overwhelming enthusiasm.

Small island of the wild boar: part of the tapestry of Clew Bay’s varied history.