A flying visit to Bishop's Island, Co. Clare

There can only be a handful of Irish church sites that have not been visited and described, however briefly, over the past 150 years. Until recently, Bishop's Island belonged to this dwindling group. Situated off the coast of County Clare, about 3km south-west of Kilkee (NGR 0858 1595), it is essentially a large sea stack (180m x 90m) with sheer sides rising 40m from the sea. In 1839 Eugene O'Curry (OS Letters) wrote that those 'of the neighbouring landsmen as have nerve enough' used it for grazing, presumably by hoisting their sheep up the cliffs on ropes. Strong winds and 'the frightful steepness of the cliffs' forced him and his companion, John O'Donovan, to abandon their own attempt to ascend, and their brief description of the remains was based on what they could see from the mainland. In his Handbook of Irish antiquities (1858) William Wakeman warned that visiting the island is 'only to be effected by a skilful climber, and after a long continuance of calm weather'. He must have fitted the bill, for his description and engravings of the church and clochaun could only have been produced by someone who had made it there. All subsequent accounts of the site have been based on Wakeman's.