The Aran Islands ( ; , ) or The Arans ( ), are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland, with a combined area of about . They form the historic barony of Aran in County Galway.
From west to east, the islands are Inishmore ( / ), the largest; Inishmaan (), the second-largest; and Inisheer (), the smallest. Several smaller islets also lie in the group.
The population of 1,347 (as of 2022) primarily speaks Irish, making the islands part of the Gaeltacht. Most residents are also fluent or proficient in English. The population has declined steadily since 1841, when it was approximately 3,500.
Location and access The bay between the Aran Islands and the mainland divides as follows:
North Sound (more accurately ) lies between Inishmore and Lettermullen, County Galway. Gregory's Sound (formerly known as ) lies between Inishmore and Inishmaan. Foul Sound (formerly known as ) lies between Inishmaan and Inisheer. South Sound (formerly known as ) lies between Inisheer and County Clare.
Ferries operate year-round to all three islands from Rossaveal in County Galway, and there is also a seasonal service from Doolin in County Clare.
From Connemara Airport near Inverin flights are operated by Aer Arann Islands.
History
Little is known about the first inhabitants to cross over to the islands, but they likely came across in search of a safe haven from attack. The islands are made up of Carboniferous limestone and have no naturally occurring topsoil. Early settlers augmented the soil with seaweed and sand from the shore. Drystone walls were built to protect the soil. Seven prehistoric stone forts are on the islands. Dún Aonghasa, on Inishmore, dates to 1100 BC.
Enda of Aran founded the Killeany monastery in Inishmore, AD 490. It became a centre of learning, piety, and asceticism. Also on Inishmore is Tempull Breccain, the fifth-century Church of Saint Brecan.Harbison, Peter (1995-04-01). Pilgrimage in Ireland: The Monuments and the People. Syracuse University Press. A ringfort on Inisheer, called Dún Formna, became the site of a castle built by the O'Briens around the 15th century. Cromwell's soldiers destroyed the castle and all but two of the seven churches established by Brecan.
In 1693 the islands were briefly captured and held by Jacobite privateer Thomas Vaughan, whose crew plundered Protestant settlements there.
The typical settlement was a clachan, a scattered cluster of small, single-storey cottages with thatched roofs. Typical clothing for an Aran man was homespun trousers and waistcoats made of grey or light-brown tweed; for women, a calf-length woven skirt along with a knitted sweater. Aran knitters were highly skilled. In the 1820s, harvesting kelp was an important sideline to raise money for the land rents. Salvaging flotsam often produced wood for building and fuel..
In 1898, John Millington Synge started spending his summers in the Aran Islands. His 1904 play Riders to the Sea is set on Inishmaan. He published The Aran Islands, six plays set in or strongly influenced by his time in Aran.
Geology
The islands' geology is mainly karst limestone, related to the limestone plateau of the Burren in County Clare (to the east), not the granites of Connemara to the north. This is most obvious in the construction of the walls around the fields.
The limestones date from the Viséan age of the Lower Carboniferous, formed as sediments in a tropical sea approximately 350 million years ago, and compressed into horizontal strata with fossil corals, crinoids, sea urchins, and ammonites. Glaciation following the Namurian facilitated greater denudation. The result is that the Aran Islands are one of the finest examples of a Glacio-Karst landscape in the world. The effects of the last glacial period (the Midlandian) are most in evidence, with the islands overrun by ice during this glaciation. The impact of earlier karstification (solutional erosion) has been eliminated by the last glacial period. Any karstification now seen dates from around 11,000 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.
Coastal geomorphology
Huge boulders up to above the sea at parts of the west-facing cliffs are an extreme form of storm beach, cast there by waves. Previously considered possible tsunami deposits, these coastal boulder deposits have recently been shown (by Rónadh Cox and collaborators) to be definitively the work of storms.
Climate and agriculture The islands have an unusually temperate climate. Average air temperatures range from in July to in January. The soil temperature does not usually drop below (the winter of 2010 recorded a prolonged period of snow, the first in living memory). Since grass will grow once the temperature rises above , this means that 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).
Population
Flora and fauna The islands support arctic, Mediterranean and alpine 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 grikes (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 gentian and orchids.
Notable insects present include butterflies—pearl-bordered fritillary Boloria euphrosyne, brown hairstreak Thecla betulae, marsh fritillary Euphydryas aurinia, and wood white Leptidea sinapis; moths—the burren green Calamia tridens, Irish annulet Odontognophos dumetata, and transparent burnet Zygaena purpuralis; and the hoverfly Doros profuges.
Traditional life and Irish language
On the cliff tops, ancient forts such as Dún Aonghasa (Dún Aengus) on Inishmore and Dún Chonchúir (Fort of Conchobar) on Inishmaan are some of the oldest archaeological remains in Ireland. A lacework of ancient stone walls across all three islands ( in all) encloses networks of small fields to contain local livestock. Also found are early (dry-stone beehive huts from the early-Christian period). Enda of Aran founded the first true Irish monastery near Killeany (Cill Éinne or Church of Enda). In time, a dozen monasteries were on Inishmore alone. Many Irish saints had some connection with Aran: St. Brendan was blessed for his voyage there; Jarlath of Tuam, Finnian of Clonard, and St. Columba called it the "Sun of the West". In total, 38 national monuments are on the Aran Islands.
The islands were first populated in larger numbers, probably at the time of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in the mid-17th century, when the Catholic population of Ireland had the choice of going "to hell or to Connacht". Many fled to the numerous islands off the west coast, where they adapted to the raw climatic conditions, developing a survival system of total self-sufficiency. Their methods included mixing layers of sand and seaweed on top of rocks to create fertile soil, a technique used to grow potatoes and other vegetables. The same seaweed method also provided grazing grass within stone-wall enclosures for cattle and sheep which in turn provided leather, wool, and yarn to make hide shoes, handwoven trousers, skirts and jackets, hand-knitted jumpers, shawls, and caps. The islanders also constructed unique boats called currachs for fishing, building their thatched cottages from the materials available, or trading with the mainland.
The Aran Islands are a Gaeltacht or Irish-speaking area which gives official status to the language as the medium of all official services, including education. An unusually high rate of Irish-language monolingualism was found among senior inhabitants until the end of the 20th century, in large part because of the isolating nature of the traditional trades practised and the natural isolation of the islands in general from mainland Ireland over the course of the islands' history. Young islanders can take their school-leaving examinations, the Leaving Certificate, at the age of 18, then most leave for third-level education. Many blame the decline of Irish-speaking among young members of the island community on English-language television, available since the 1960s; furthermore, many younger islanders leave for the mainland when they come of age.
Transport
Year-round ferry passenger services exist. Aran Island Ferries operate a year-round service from Rossaveal in County Galway, connected by a bus service from Galway city. A heavy-cargo service operates several times a week from Galway Harbour, and is operated by Lasta Mara.
Aer Arann Islands operates an air service from Inverin to Inishmore Airport, which has a connecting bus from Galway city. The airline announced that it would cease all flights in December 2018, but an agreement was reached to continue the service until 30 September 2019.
Ferries are also available to the Aran Islands from Doolin in County Clare (seasonal 1 April – 31 October).
A road network exists on each of the islands, and a speed limit of applies. Cars on the islands are exempt from road-worthiness testing. Most visitors to the island hire bikes and an increasing number hire ebikes, as they are the most convenient way to see the islands.
Tourism
Visitors and attractions
Visitors come in large numbers, particularly in the summer. Several Bronze Age and Iron Age forts and attractions are on the islands:
Dun Aengus (Dún Aonghasa, Aran Islands Dialect: dūn aŋgəs) is a Bronze Age and Iron Age fort on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on Inishmore. It consists of a series of concentric circular walls. The innermost—the citadel—encloses an area approximately in diameter with thick walls of stone. Black Fort (Dún Dúchathair) O'Brien's Castle on Inisheer was built in the 14th century. The castle was taken from the O'Briens by the O'Flaherty clan of Connemara in 1582. Teampall Bheanáin is considered the smallest church in the world, and is notable for its orientation: north–south instead of east–west. Teampall an Cheathrair Álainn has a holy well, which inspired J. M. Synge's play The Well of the Saints.
Arts
Local artists
One of the major figures of the Irish Renaissance, Liam O'Flaherty, was born in Gort na gCapall, Inishmore, on 28 August 1896. Máirtín Ó Díreáin, one of the most eminent poets in the Irish language, was also from Inishmore. Since 2000, Áras Éanna Arts Centre, Inisheer, has been welcoming artists in residence, both local and international, to stay and work on the inspirational Aran Islands for periods of one month. Clíodhna Lyons, born on the islands, is an Irish cartoonist, animator, and printmaker, who has created several comics and 'zines and is now a director for Brown Bag Films.
Visiting artists
The islands have historically attracted a number of artists. For example, starting in 1908, Harry Clarke spent a number of weeks each summer for six years on Inisheer, accompanied by friends and his future wife, Margaret Clarke (artist). Sketches by and of Clarke exist from these trips, regarded as formative in his upbringing, as they marked the first occasions in which convalescing off the mainland of Ireland was necessary for the artist.