Caher Island

Caher Island (Cathair na Naomh in Irish), an uninhabited island off the coast of County Mayo in Ireland, is situated between the larger Clare Island and Inishturk.

Caher
Native name:
Cathair na Naomh
Looking towards Caher Island from Inishturk
Caher
Caher Island (Ireland)
Geography
LocationAtlantic Ocean
Coordinates53.°43.3′N 10°1.38′W
ArchipelagoClew Bay
Total islands117
Major islandsClare Island, Inishturk, Inishbofin, Inishark, Achillbeg, Caher Island
Area128 acres (52 ha)[1]
Highest elevation61 m (200 ft)
Highest pointUnnamed Peak
Administration
ProvinceConnacht
CountyMayo
Demographics
Population0
Pop. density0/km2 (0/sq mi)

Etymology

Cathair na Naomh in Irish means the City of the Saints.

History
Islands off County Mayo
Click for larger view

An ancient centre for pilgrimage, it is still visited for this reason today.[2] On 15 August each year, the Feast of the Assumption, there is a pilgrimage to the island.

The island has an Early Christian monastery with the remains of a chapel in an enclosure and several carved slabs. The island appears to hold the remains of hermitages of seventh century monks.

Access to the island

The island is accessed by boat from Inishturk. Caher can only be accessed reasonably safely by approaching with a small boat, such as a currach, from the east to the point marked as Portatemple on the charts. This is not a safe harbour, as heavy Atlantic swells can break through even on rare calm days. The comment on the chart for the area, "The entire area of irregular depths up to 4 miles offshore between Clew Bay and Killary harbour 10 miles further south, breaks in bad weather" reflects the fact that even in moderate swell conditions of less than 5 metres, peaks can rise and break unexpectedly.

gollark: ```sqlWITH RECURSIVE counter(x) AS (VALUES(10) UNION ALL SELECT x-1 FROM counter WHERE x>1), bottle(x, str) AS (SELECT x, SUBSTR(' bottles', 1, (x <> 1) + 7) || ' of beer' FROM counter)SELECT PRINTF('%d%s on the wall%d%sTake one down, pass it around%d%s on the wall', x, str, x, str, x - 1, (SELECT str FROM bottle WHERE x = x - 1)) FROM bottle;```
gollark: Yes. Well, not really golfing, it won't be very small.
gollark: The n-1 bottles line is proving surprisingly hard to get right.
gollark: I see.
gollark: Ah, I see.

References
  1. The Holy Wells of Ireland, Patrick Logan, Colin Smythe, 1980, pag. 146
  2. Inishturk Island - Caher Island

See also


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