2. Heritage Campuses

3. Research

4. Surveys Royal Irish Academy 

• Clare Island Survey
  (1911-1915)
• New Survey of Clare Island
  (1989-2000)

5. Natural history

6. Human History

7. Folklore

8. Abbey wall-paintings

9. Contact us

10. Where is Clare Island ?

11. Links

The old and the new survey of Clare Island

• The island was the subject of a pioneering multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary survey  during the years 1909-1911. The Clare Island Survey was the first major biological study of a specific area carried out anywhere in the world. Though concentrating mainly on the island's biology, the research also included studies on its placenames, history and its archaeology.

• Under the strong guidance of Robert Lloyd Praeger, the reknowned naturalist, the Survey resulted  in 67 academic papers on nearly every aspect of the island. They were published  as a special volume of the Royal Irish Academy's Proceedings between 1911 and 1915.

• In 1991, the Royal Irish Academy launched the "New Survey of Clare Island"a new interdisciplinary survey of Clare Island which will update and advance the original survey.

• The aim of the New Survey is to measure environmental change in the period since the first survey was concluded, as well as bringing new methods and modern knowledge to bear on old problems.