Posted on 11/18/2005 11:58:58 AM PST by SunkenCiv
According to the "Annals of the Four Masters" the island was once called Fitha Island and it formed part of the mainland until the day "the sea swelled so high that it burst its boundaries, overflowing a large tract of country, and drowning over 1,000 persons." This happened on March 16th, 804. Some reports describe it as an earthquake, others as a tidal wave when "the sea divided the island of Fitha into three parts." These three islands are Mutton Island, Inismattle (or Illanwattle) and Roanshee (or Carrig na Ron). There is a fourth island in the area called Carraig Aolacan.
Lewis gives this account of Mutton Island; "On its shores are some curious natural caves, formerly used by smugglers for storing contraband goods. Here are an old signal tower and the ruins of an ancient structure, said to have been founded by St. Senan of Inniscattery." This small oratory, dedicated to St. Senan has since fallen into the sea.
(Excerpt) Read more at clarelibrary.ie ...
some pics:
http://www.privateislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Castle-ruins.jpg
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/22616543.jpg
Note: this topic is from 11/18/2005.Mutton Island keyword, from the FRchives, with dates, maybe some figs:
Victory through defeat!
***
Is that like leading from behind?
Thanks. I hadn’t heard of the story of Grace O’Malley. What an interesting woman!
I am following Homer's 70 years ago today in WWII threads. Not that long ago a typhoon took off the bow of a heavy cruiser, USS Pittsburgh. There is a lot of power in that water.
I recall an account of a plane that had to ditch (or maybe it was a vessel that sank, but anyway) during WWII; the survivors were in liferafts, and wearing “Mae Wests”, and that was fine at first, but they were waylaid by a large octopus (or more than one) which pulled men out of the raft as the rest were screaming in terror. That’s one of those kinds of stories that gets the “there’s no evidence it happened” denials. :’)
Unusual Places: Dun Briste – an Impressive Sea-Stack -- There are few folk tales about how the sea-stack became separated from the mainland. According to one of them, on the place where the stack now stands used to live an ogre Geodruisge, He was a most obnoxious character, often making life difficult for St. Patrick, who used to pray at the church on Downpatrick Head. The saint became agitated, and prayed to God to get rid of this tyrant. The next day the stack with the ogre’s residence was separated from the mainland. Geodruisg couldn’t escape and so he vanished. However, a passage in the journal by MacFirbis is a more likely explanation. It describes the cutting off, of the rock of Duross promontory by the sea. The residents were taken off using ship ropes in 1393. A few years ago, a helicopter landed several scientists on the stack; they were the first humans to set foot there for ages. They stayed there overnight and examined the surface where they found the remains of a medieval house, walls, cultivation ridges, and a corn grinding stone.
Image Credit: The Merry Monk/Flickr
Just an update to the ping messages.
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