Should you ever find yourself shipwrecked upon a rocky island

Begin by loosening the top layer of limestone with a crow bar.  Next get yourself a breaking boulder. You raise this above your head let it drop onto the limestone, which breaks easily if loosened.

Breaking Boulder

 This is Padraig Póil’s boulder & it’s been in use for the past thirty years. Born and bred on Inis Oírr island, Padraig is making a new field – just as his forefathers did.

Padraig and Eddie position the first stone

Using the straight grain of the bedrock as a guide, a new wall is born.Once the wall is tall enough to be a wind break, the enclosure is filled with a layer of sand and seaweed – and in few years – you should have one of these!

Inis Oírr fields

No excuse is needed to visit paradise – but now Seo é Inis Oírr has arrived – a festival which includes traditional island skills.  Indeed it was a great success in this maiden year!

Women and quilts at ‘Seo e Inis Oírr’ festival

Workshops are held by islanders giving introductions to Basket-Weaving, Tin-Whistle, Inis Oírr Irish, Aran Knitting, Irish Dancing – and most importantly – Stone-Wall Building.                                                         The hospitality rocks too.

                               The sole dilemma being that time here is always too short

Cill na Seacht Niníon – Grave of the Seven Daughters

We explore the oldest monastic site on the island – the Grave of the Seven Daughters – which has ‘sleeping quarters’ in the perimeter wall reminiscent of the catacombs in RomeMay the fates be kind that we might return in September and finish the field!