Deer Island or Inishmore (derived from the Irish ''Inis Mór'' meaning 'the great island') is located in

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, Ireland.

Location

According to Clare County Library, Deer Island, or Innismore, is situated near the western bank of the River Fergus about a quarter of a mile from the village of Ballynacally. In 1837 it was measured at 493 statute acres.

Population

Administratively it is part of the District Electoral Division of Ballynacally. Population in 1996 was 1 (unchanged since 1991). It was the only inhabited island in Co. Clare. The 1901 census showed 9 families living on the island. It has been uninhabited since 2004, when the last of the residents died, though many families of former residents visit the island throughout the year.

Demographics

The table below reports data on Inishmore's population taken from ''Discover the Islands of Ireland'' (Alex Ritsema, Collins Press, 1999) and the

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of Ireland. Census data in Ireland before 1841 are not considered complete and/or reliable.

History and archaeology

In 1837 the island was nearly equally divided between pasture and tillage. It was the property of the Earl of Egremont and was also called Inchmore, or the "Great Island", being the largest of the Fergus islands. Samuel Lewis reported that "Flax was formerly cultivated here… but is now only partially grown". He also mentioned "some vestiges of an abbey still remaining, founded… at a very early period, by

Saint Senan In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

of Inniscattery, who appointed St. Liberius one of his disciples, to preside over it". The ruins of the old church, some cholera graves and a holy well called Tobar Breedia are still to be seen. Deer Island was once a deer park, enclosed by water, where the Earl of Thomond kept a live larder of venison.

Nearby islands

Nearby islands include: *

Canon Island Canon Island (''Inis na Canánach'' in Irish) is an island situated in the River Shannon, about east of the village of Kildysart, County Clare in Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in ...

, anciently called Elanogannonoch, contains remains of a priory founded and built between the years 1166 and 1169 by Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick * Inishdadroum ('the island of the two backs'), of two ancient churches, in one of which St. Brendan of Kerry ministered *

Low Island Geologically, a low island is an island of coral origin. The term applies whether the island was formed as a result of sedimentation upon a coral reef or of the uplifting of such islands. The term is used to distinguish such islands from high ...

on which is one of those cairns called 'Dhiarmuid and Graunia's bed,' remarkable in bardic tradition and folk-lore. The Celtic legend is, that Dhiarmunid, a young chieftain, fled with Graunia, the affianced wife of the aged

Fionn mac Cumhaill Fionn mac Cumhaill ( ; Old and mga, Find or ''mac Cumail'' or ''mac Umaill''), often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is leader of the ''Fianna'' bands of ...

, who were pursued by Finn and his warriors, sleeping each night in a different place under a stone structure hastily erected by Dhiarmuid.

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