A quick look at the Aran islands
Sitting on the mouth of the bay of Galway in western Ireland lay the Aran islands. Three small and very unusual islands contain some of the most unique and well-preserved examples of how our ancestors lived in ancient Ireland. Each one is covered in a series of small walls that form what appear to be separate growing fields, though so far no one has come up with a good explanation as to why they are shaped in such a way.
History from the people who first occupied the islands simply doesn’t exist as the first people to live there didn’t have any sort of written language, but from various artifacts taken from around the islands, it’s estimated the first inhabitants moved over from the mainland around the start of the bronze age.
(The islands are covered with hundreds of small and oddly shaped walls)
The bronze age in Ireland ran from between 1500 BC and 500 BC, with the islands being occupied probably somewhere closer to the 1500 BC area due to the quality of bronze tools found there. Since the islands have very poor quality farmland the total population of the three islands was likely no more than a few hundred at most, as only about 10% of its land is good for growing crops on.
Most of the inhabitants would have eaten a diet heavily based on seafood and a small selection of crops capable of surviving the high winds and colder temperatures like cabbage and leeks. But one thing the rocky landscape did offer as an advantage was plenty of stone for building homes. There is evidence of the classic Celtic-style roundhouse being built on mass here to provide shelter on such an exposed landscape, with the roofs thatched with straw or lined with skins.
The various rulers of the islands built defenses over the years to protect their people in the form of cliff forts protected by layers of stacked stone walls, the most famous of which was located on Inis Mor. Whether or not anyone attacked the forts is unclear as they are still standing, but that’s not to say they weren’t captured from time to time over the years. One thing that’s for certain is the islanders were always very poor in comparison to their mainland counterparts as there were no mineral deposits anywhere on the islands, with all the metal they had being acquired either from trade or mainland expeditions.
The islands remained largely unchanged until the arrival of Christianity during the mid-5th century when a series of small churches were built. After that, Oliver Cromwell came in the late 17th century, but after a quick looting session across the islands Church’s and population, he built a small fort and then departed back to the mainland, seemingly unimpressed with what the land had to offer.
Today the islands are a popular tourist destination and have several places to stay, but if you are thinking of going they have a rather small population so don’t expect lots of places to shop and eat. This location is all about the sites, with ancient churches, huge wave-washed cliffs, and more ancient monuments than you can shake a stick at.
