Inishmaan ( ; , the official name, formerly spelled , meaning "middle island") is the middle of the three main

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; , ) or The Arans ( ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony (Ireland), barony of Aran in ...

Galway Bay Galway Bay ( Irish: ''Loch Lurgain'' or ''Cuan na Gaillimhe'') is a bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south; Galway ...

, off the west coast of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is part of

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

in the province of

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

. Inishmaan has a population of about 184 (census 2022), making it the least populous of the Aran Islands. It is one of the most important strongholds of traditional Irish culture. The island is predominantly

Irish-speaking Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

and part of the

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

, though all inhabitants have knowledge of English.

Geology and geography

The island is an extension of

The Burren The Burren ( ; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.

. The terrain of the island is composed of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

pavements with crisscrossing cracks known as "grykes", leaving isolated rocks called "clints". The limestones date from the Visean period (Lower Carboniferous), formed as sediments in a tropical sea about 350 million years ago, and compressed into horizontal strata with fossil

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

crinoid Crinoids are marine invertebrates that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that remain attached to the sea floor by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms, called feather stars or comatulids, are ...

sea urchin Sea urchins or urchins () are echinoderms in the class (biology), class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the intertidal zone to deep seas of . They typically have a globular body cove ...

s, and

ammonites Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

. Glaciation following the

Namurian The Namurian is a stage in the regional stratigraphy of northwest Europe, with an age between roughly 331 and 319 Ma (million years ago). It is a subdivision of the Carboniferous system or period, as well as the regional Silesian series. The Na ...

phase facilitated greater denudation. The result is that Inishmaan is one of the finest examples of a Glacio-

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

landscape in the world. The effects of the last glacial period (the Midlandian) are most in evidence, with the island overrun by ice during this glaciation. The impact of earlier karstification (solutional erosion) has been eliminated by the last glacial period. So any karstification now seen dates from around 10,000 years ago, so the island karst is recent. Solutional processes have widened and deepened the grykes of the limestone pavement. Pre-existing lines of weakness in the rock (vertical joints) contribute to the formation of extensive fissures separated by clints (flat, pavement-like slabs). The rock karstification facilitates the formation of subterranean drainage.

Climate and agriculture

The island has an unusually temperate climate. Average air temperatures range from in July to in January. The soil temperature does not usually drop below 6 °C (although the end of 2010 recorded a prolonged period of snow, the first in living memory). Since grass will grow once the temperature rises above 6 °C, the island (like the neighbouring Burren) has one of the longest growing seasons in Ireland or Britain, and supports diverse and rich plant growth. Late May is the sunniest time, and also likely the best time to view flowers, with the gentians and avens peaking (but orchid species blooming later).

Flora and fauna

The island supports

arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, and

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

plants side-by-side, due to the unusual environment. Like the Burren, the Aran Islands are renowned for their remarkable assemblage of plants and animals. The grykes (crevices) provide moist shelter, thus supporting a wide range of plants, including dwarf shrubs. Where the surface of the pavement is shattered into gravel, many of the hardier arctic or alpine plants can be found, but when the limestone pavement is covered by a thin layer of soil, patches of grass are seen, interspersed with plants such as gentians and orchids. Notable insects present include the butterfly the pearl-bordered fritillary (''Boloria euphrosyne''), brown hairstreak (''Thecla betulae''),

marsh fritillary The marsh fritillary (''Euphydryas aurinia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary's common name derives from one of its several habitats, marshland. The prolonged larval st ...

(''Euphydryas aurinia'') and wood white (''Leptidea sinapis''); the moths, the burren green (''Calamia tridens''), Irish annulet (''Gnophos dumetata'') and transparent burnet (''Zygaena purpuralis''); and the hoverfly '' Doros profuges''.

Landmarks

Archaeological sites

Eight sites on Inishmaan are designated as National Monuments (NM #42): * Doonbeg Ringfort * Carrownlisheen Wedge Tomb (Diarmuid and Gráinne's Bed) * Templesaghtmacree, a church * Carrownlisheen Cross * Labbanakinneriga, a church * Dún Fearbhaí, a cashel (stone ringfort) * Kilcoonagh Church * Dún Conor (Dún Chonchúir)

Synge's Cottage and Chair

is the house where

John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, essayist, and collector of folklores. As an important driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, Ir ...

stayed on the island every summer from 1898 to 1902, where he was hosted by Bríd and Páidín Mac Donnchadha. It was here he is said to have got inspiration for his plays ''

The Playboy of the Western World ''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge, first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. The work is considered a centerpiece of the Irish Literary Revival mo ...

'', '' Riders to the Sea'', and many of his other works from stories he heard while on Inishmaan. The house he stayed in, , was inhabited by descendants of the Mac Donnchadha family until the 1970s, when it began to fall into disrepair. It has been restored to its original condition, and has been open to the public since August 1999. (Synge's Chair) was the writer's favourite place on the island, overlooking Inis Mór and the Atlantic.

Demographics

The table below reports data on Inishmaan's population taken from ''Discover the Islands of Ireland'' (Alex Ritsema, Collins Press, 1999) and the

Census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of Ireland. Census data in Ireland before 1841 are not considered complete and/or reliable.

Infrastructure

The island is connected to the national grid via a submarine cable. A

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

plant provides water for the residents, but water shortages are still a common occurrence. Inishmaan has a new jetty ("Caladh Mor") since 2007. It also has an airstrip connecting it to the mainland.

Education

There is a primary school on the island, Scoil Náisiúnta Inis Meáin. There is also a secondary school, Colaiste Naomh Eoin. Coláiste Naomh Eoin was opened on 1 September 2003 under the auspices of Coláiste Colmchille (Inverin) and the County Galway Vocational Education Committee. It caters for the entire second level educational needs of the Aran islands. Senior Cycle was first introduced in 2006. The school is housed in a building on hire from the local co-operative. Four school classrooms and the school office are located there. The new science laboratory was renovated in 2008. A woodwork, technical graphics and construction studies workshop was added to the infrastructure over 2008/2010. The school also has use of the local football pitch, in addition to a lined basketball court. The students of Coláiste Naomh Eoin wear a red V neck jumper with a grey polo neck with the crest of the school imprinted on them. Both male and female students wear black trousers with black shoes or runners.

Public library

There is a public library on the island. It holds a diverse and quality collection of books, catering to all age groups. It is open every Tuesday and Thursday from 2.00pm to 4.00pm and on Saturdays from 11.00am to 1.00pm. The library provides a reference and local studies collection with information on the heritage and history of the island. There is also free internet access.

Sport

Some of the limestone sea cliffs have attracted interest from rock-climbers. Diving is popular. Inishmaan is home to the game Cead. This is a traditional sport unique to the island. Cead means "permission" in Irish. Cead is only allowed to be played once a year, on Saint Patrick's Day. Only men can partake in the competitive aspect of the sport. There is an annual 5 km/10km12km race each March known as the 'Inis Iron Meáin Race' organised by Colaiste Noamh Eoin, the island secondary school.

In popular culture

The island is the setting for the 1996 play '' The Cripple of Inishmaan'' by

Martin McDonagh Martin Faranan McDonagh ( ; born 26 March 1970) is a British-Irish playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his Absurdism, absurdist Black comedy, dark humour which often challenges the modern theatre aesthetic. He has won List of awards and no ...

References

External links

Official Guide to the Aran IslandsAer Arann Islands

Gallery

File:Dun Chonchuir.jpg, Inside Dún Chonchúir (Conor's fort), Inishmaan File:InisMeainChurch.jpg, Church of Our Lady and St. John File:Inismeain airport.JPG, Inishmaan airport File:Inis Meain 2.JPG, Inishmaan Landscape File:Inis Meain 3.JPG, Inishmaan Coastline File:Wild garlics at Inis Meáin.jpg,

Wild garlic Plant species in the genus ''Allium ''Allium'' is a large genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants with around 1000 accepted species, making ''Allium'' the largest genus in the family Amaryllidaceae and among the largest plant genera in the wo ...

at Inishmaan