History
Written by Chris Gwiazda Thursday, 30 April 2009 18:43
Megalithic- Stone Age Aran Islands
The first peoples populated the islands around 3,000BC. Where they came from we are not sure but they are likely to have come in from the mainland of Ireland. These first people built in stone. Stone-age or Megalithic monuments can be found on the three islands. A wedge tomb dating from 2,500BC such as that found at Corrúch in Inis Mór is a typical example.
Read more about Early Christian Inis Mór>>
Bronze and Iron Age Aran Islands
The second main phase of occupation on the islands is what is referred to as the Bronze Age civilisation. This dates from about 1500 BC to 500BC. It so called because of the bronze objects made by these people. Cnoc Raithní in Inis Oírr is an example of a bronze age burial mound in which various bronze objects were found( cf. Monuments of Inis Oírr). Bronze age objects were also found at Dún Aonghasa one of the great stone forts of the islands. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age and the arrival of the Celts. The Iron Age is so called because the people used Iron. The Celts were especially famous in Europe for their smithcraft. Some of the forts are also thought to be iron age.
Read More about Bronze and Iron Age Inis Mór>>
Stone Forts of the Aran Islands
The Irish word Dún means fort and the islands are famous for their stone forts. These are thought to date from the late Bronze age( 1100BC) through to the Iron age (300BC-500AD). There are a number of forts found on the three islands. They are part of a complex of such structures found along the west coast of Ireland from Donegal in the north to Kerry in the south. Over the past decade a number of these forts including Dún Aonghasa on Inis Mór have been excavated as part of ‘ The Western Stone Forts Project’. What the function of these forts was is unclear. Some suggest as well as being habitation sites they may also have been used for ritual purposes.
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Early Christian Aran Islands.
The remains of Early Christian monuments are scattered throughout the islands. It is to these island hermitages of prayer and learning that monks such as St Brendan the navigator or St Colm Cille( Columba) of Iona came to study. They then went on to establish their monasteries in the wider world. This monastic movement which owes some of its origins to the Aran islands led to Ireland’s fame as ‘The island of saints and scholars’.
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Military History of the Aran Islands
From the earliest historical period the islands were under the patronage of the O’ Briens who were one of the foremost Gaelic families of Munster. Evidence suggests the Vikings (Norse) visited in the 9th –11th centuries but they made no significant impact. Following the Anglo- Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169 trade with England and Europe increased. The islands gradually enjoyed prosperity as the maritime outpost of the fast growing commercial city of Galway. They were occupied briefly by the Anglo- Norman Lord Justice d’Arcy in 1334 but the O’Briens quickly reasserted them selves and were not dislodged from their pre-eminent position until 1584 when they were defeated by the O Flaherty chieftains of Conamara. For centuries the O Flahertys and O Malleys of Conamara had robbed merchant ships entering Galway Bay. In 1587 colonisation from England became a reality, the O Flahertys were routed, and the islands were granted to English settlers. Following the Kilkenny Confederation War 1642-52 Cromwellian forces established a garrison at Arkin Castle Inis Mór. The islands remained under occupation from Britain until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Over the centuries islanders joined forces with the rest of the country in protesting at the occupation most notably during the Land War in the 19thcentury and during the uprising of 1916 and the subsequent War of Independence( 199-1922).
Read More about Military History of the Inis Mór >>
Nineteeth Century Antiquarianism on the Aran Islands
In 1684 noted scholar and antiquarian Roderic O Flaherty wrote’ A Chorographical Description of West or H-Iar Connaught’ in which he described his travels around West Connacht including the Aran Islands. This is the only description we have of the islands from this period until the nineteenth century. In that century Ireland experienced a cultural revival and the Aran Islands became one of its hubs. Noted antiquarians such as John O Donovan, George Petrie, Sir Samuel Ferguson, Sir William Wilde and Thomas Westropp each in their turn surveyed and documented the islands built heritage.
Literary figures of the Anglo Irish literary movements such as W.B Yeats, John Millington Synge and Lady Gregory came to draw on the folklore and folklife of the islands in their work.
Committed Irish language revivalist such as Patrick Pearse and Fr. Eoghan O Growney established a branch of Conradh na Gaeilge on the islands and spent time learning the local dialect and idiom .
In 1934 Robert Flaherty launched the ‘ Man of Aran’ film. Filmed on location in Inis Mór it describes the life of the islands and in particular shows the struggle inherent in earning a living from the Atlantic Ocean. When the film was released it was hailed as one of the greatest films ever made and triggered a new wave of interest in the islands among the Irish, European and American public. Islanders generally hold that it marked the start of the modern tourism era.
