...are a remarkable place, full of unique contradictions. I had the pleasure to work there some years ago.
They are a remnant of the same limestone massif as the Burren in Co Clare, but are spotted with granite glacial erratic boulders from Connemara. People too have cultural links in both directions as they lie like stepping stones across Galway Bay. The Arannach (islander) is Irish Gaelic speaking, but yet has always had international links as long as Galway has been a port. All sorts of flowers and plants co-exist, not found juxtaposed anywhere else save perhaps for the Burren. As both calcareous limestone-loving plants nestle close to permanent damp crevices, which have pockets of acid-loving plants. The islanders have always practised a mixed economy, breeding fine cattle for export, growing rye to thatch from traditional (long-stemmed) varieties, fishing (including rich boat owners), and tourism. Their cattle are milked in ones and twos in the field, and so there is no need for gates. instead they use glacial erratic round granite boulders to fill gaps -bearna- (cattle creeps) in the open square-blocked limestone walls. They are shifted from near settlement in the summer, up to high "winterage" -too dry to support summer grazing- in an opposite movement to that of "boolying" in the majority of Ireland. Water troughs have concrete rain-catching slopes in a modern adaption to the environment. Small fields or gardens have had to be made by hand, filling crevices in limestone pavements, spreading clay brought as ballast in boats, followed by seaweed and sand, laid as potato ridges, and grown in succession. It is a unique combination of people and place setting up a unique landscape
Aran Islands in 1936
They are a remnant of the same limestone massif as the Burren in Co Clare, but are spotted with granite glacial erratic boulders from Connemara. People too have cultural links in both directions as they lie like stepping stones across Galway Bay. The Arannach (islander) is Irish Gaelic speaking, but yet has always had international links as long as Galway has been a port. All sorts of flowers and plants co-exist, not found juxtaposed anywhere else save perhaps for the Burren. As both calcareous limestone-loving plants nestle close to permanent damp crevices, which have pockets of acid-loving plants. The islanders have always practised a mixed economy, breeding fine cattle for export, growing rye to thatch from traditional (long-stemmed) varieties, fishing (including rich boat owners), and tourism. Their cattle are milked in ones and twos in the field, and so there is no need for gates. instead they use glacial erratic round granite boulders to fill gaps -bearna- (cattle creeps) in the open square-blocked limestone walls. They are shifted from near settlement in the summer, up to high "winterage" -too dry to support summer grazing- in an opposite movement to that of "boolying" in the majority of Ireland. Water troughs have concrete rain-catching slopes in a modern adaption to the environment. Small fields or gardens have had to be made by hand, filling crevices in limestone pavements, spreading clay brought as ballast in boats, followed by seaweed and sand, laid as potato ridges, and grown in succession. It is a unique combination of people and place setting up a unique landscape
Aran Islands, a group on Flickr showing Aran Islands today
Aran Islands in 1936
Aran Islands at the end of the 19th- and beginning of the 20th centuries
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