| 1. Symposia / Historical Safaris
3. Research 4. Surveys
7. Folklore 9. Contact us 11. Links |
Historical Monuments
Click Here for Historical Monuments Map
|
| 1. Symposia / Historical Safaris
3. Research 4. Surveys
7. Folklore 9. Contact us 11. Links |
Historical Monuments
Click Here for Historical Monuments Map
|
On a rocky headland at the harbour is
the square tower which served as Grace O'Malley's castle. Clare Island was the stronghold
of this remarkable 16th-century queen who lived by her family trade of piracy and plunder.
So widely feared was "Granuaile" (as she was known), that she was received with
full honours at the Tudor court of Elizabeth I. She maintained her dominance into old age,
died in her seventies in 1603, and was buried in the tiny abbey on Clare. Clare Island's
12th century Cistercian abbey contains a remarkable series of medieval wall and ceiling
paintings. Only four other such examples still exist in Ireland, and Clare Island's are
the most intriguing and best preserved. 
At the western point of the Island, at Tuar Mor,
there is the ruins of a signal tower, built in 1804, as an answer to the impending threat
of a Napoleonic invasion. The cost and effort involved in the construction of the tower
must have been exorbitant in its day and belies the strategic importance of the West of
Ireland as a gateway to invading the British empire. The Clare Island tower is one of a
whole line of interlinked towers along the coast, the next one to the north is on Achill. 
