![]() For 30 years he delivered the post to the few populated islands in the bay. Inishgort was also the home of the former postmaster of Clew Bay, Sean Jeffers, until his death in 2006. Nobody has lived there in several decades, but the building looks so well maintained it's as if someone has just nipped over to the mainland for a bottle of milk. The light was converted to solar power in 2000. The two-storey lighthouse-keeper's house was constructed in 1827. Hard to believe, but the magnificent lighthouse tower was built in 1806. ![]() Secretary: "I think you would require to make some regulations about the pilots as there is a complaint that Jeffers wants to collar all the money and the other men complain of that." Chairman: "They have a right to complain." Secretary: "I daresay when the commissioner comes around he will make some regulations about the pilot boat.”ĭan MacCarthy: The population on Inishgort, also recorded as Inish Gurt and Inish Guirt, peaked at 32 people in 1841 Payment was often a bone of contention, as in this exchange in 1913 between the secretary and the chairman of the harbour office. The population gradually dwindled from the 1960s until just one person was left by 2006.įor many years the island men provided pilots to guide boats up to Westport. The population on Inishgort, also recorded as Inish Gurt and Inish Guirt, peaked at 32 people in 1841, but by the 1911 census just three houses, comprising seven adults, had returned forms. Inishgort has an even more tenuous link to its near neighbour, Islandmore, with an underwater bar. Apart from the occasional kayaker or lighthouse maintenance crew, they have this idyll to themselves. The eastern part of the island is divided into several fine fields, and cattle and sheep are brought over by boat to graze. While its light, with a range of 10 nautical miles, still guides shipping towards Rosmoney Pier or Westport, its expertise is now governed by a computer chip rather than a human hand. Across this tethering is fixed a formidable lighthouse, now unmanned. Inishgort also has its exotic side, with curlicues of pebble beach decorating a tenuous isthmus.
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