Another great day out to Inisbofin Island with our host Seán Boner.
We set sail on the Boffin Ferry from Machaire Rabhartaigh (Magheraroarty) on the 10 minute trip to the island.
Arriving at the harbour on the island, the bright sunshine provided a magnificent view back across the water from the coast at Horn Head, the Derryveagh Mountains with the Errigal as it’s crown, Muckish Mountain and west to the Bloody Foreland.
A short stroll to the west of the village, past an example of the houses built with funds from the Congestion District Board, larger that you would see in the rest of Donegal as funds were less meagre for the islands.
At the far west of the village is the ruins of the National School. Our guide, Seán, spoke of the standard design for a National School but how unsuitable a design for the weather conditions here on the island; with over-hanging eves and the door leading straight into the single classroom.
Modifications had made the school less prone to the weather with a chimney to allow a fire in the classroom and a partition to create a hallway to prevent the Atlantic winds from cooling the legs of the children unlucky to be seated at the back of the class.
To this day you can see the fields laid out in long strips of land, the rundale field system, used here on the island to allow the communal farming of scarce arable land and pasture.
After a short stroll back to the harbour and onto to the east end of the village, we met at the church.
Seán was to tell of the hard life here on the island with no turf of their own, it was all carried from the bog beyond Magheraroarty and then by row boat to the island; at a time before the harbour was built. Although with the right spring tide, you can walk to the island on the stone beach causeway but local knowledge is essential.
There were no more than 120 souls on Inishboffin in the 1960s before they melted away to take up residence on the mainland; well before the harbour and church as we see them today were built.
While our views today across the water to Magheraroarty and beyond are indeed scenic, these waters are treacherous in bad weather with many lives endangered in these waters. Seán was able to tell us of the award of a gold medal awarded by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands to his grandfather, John Boyle, coxswain of the Arranmore RNLI lifeboat in a dramatic rescue in 1941.
A memorial to those who lost their lives in these waters.
After a short stroll over the island to admire the sands of the east beach we returned to the harbour for our ferry trip back to Magheraroarty.
Many thanks to Seán Boner for introducing us to this island, it’s history and the story of the people that called this home.