Lettermullen, ( or possibly "the hill with the mill"), is a small island and village on the coast of southern

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

in County Galway,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is about west of

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

city, at the far western end of

Galway Bay Galway Bay ( Irish: ''Loch Lurgain'' or ''Cuan na Gaillimhe'') is a bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south; Galw ...

, Lettermullen is the westernmost of three islands; Lettermullen, Gorumna and

Lettermore Lettermore () is a Gaeltacht village in County Galway, Ireland. It is also the name of an island, linked by road to the mainland, on which the village sits. The name comes from the Irish ''Leitir Móir'' meaning ''great rough hillside'' (''leiti ...

, along with smaller islands collectively known as Ceantar na nOileán ("District of the Islands") connected to the mainland by the bridges and causeways of R374. Lettermullen is in the parish of Kilcummin, barony of Moycullen, and province of Connaught. It forms one side of Kiegall Bay, and its northern end is part of the shore of Casheen Bay. The island comprises about of arable and pasture land. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in herring and cod fisheries and in the collection of seaweed for manure. Lettermullen is part of the

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially reco ...

(

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

-speaking region of Ireland) and Irish is the most common spoken language. Accordingly, its official name is ''Leitir Mealláin''. Lettermullen is connected to the islands of Dinish, Furnish, Inisherk and An Crappagh. A very well preserved Signal Station is situated near Golam Head. These stations were built all along the Irish coast by the British from 1804 to 1806 to monitor for maritime invasions. A picturesque cemetery is situated just south of R374 immediately after you cross the bridge from Gorumna to Lettermullen.

Geology

The northern third of Lettermullan is composed of the same intrusive Devonian-aged

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

underlying most of Galway that formed from crustal melting as a result of the

Caledonian Orogeny The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that ...

in the late Silurian. The remainder of the island is made up of

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

-aged bedrock of

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

marine rocks and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

Demographics

Famous people born on Lettermullen

* Antoine Ó Flatharta (playwright and scriptwriter)

References

* http://www.udaras.ie/en/faoin-udaras/foilseachain/tuarascalacha-bliantula-agus-raitis#2012 Annual Reports and Statements - Údarás Gaeltacht * https://web.archive.org/web/20131203012132/http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Education/The_Irish_Headhunter_catalogue.pdf {{Gaeltacht Islands of County Galway Gaeltacht towns and villages Gaeltacht places in County Galway