Overview
Inis Oírr is barely three kilometres across, and its one castle sits on the island’s highest point – a rectangular O’Brien tower house, built around 1400 inside a ringfort more than a thousand years older than the castle itself. Locally it goes by Furmina Castle or the Great Fort. It is one of the first things you see stepping off the ferry, and from the top the view runs across a patchwork of dry-stone walls and out over Galway Bay to the grey terraces of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. Free, always open, and the best twenty minutes on the island – if you do one thing here, climb it late in the afternoon for the light.
History and building
Long before the O’Briens, this hilltop held a ringfort called Dún Formna, dating from somewhere between around 500 BC and 100 AD. In the early 15th century the Clann Teige branch of the O’Brien clan raised a rectangular keep on the strong ground inside it. The entrance sat at first-floor level, reached by a wooden stair that could be pulled up in a siege – standard practice in medieval Ireland.
The castle changed hands and took its knocks. The Ó Flaithbheartaigh (O’Flaherty) clan seized it around 1582, and Cromwell’s army slighted it – deliberately wrecked it – in 1652, leaving the roofless shell that stands today. It is a National Monument, owned by the State. Inside you can still trace the mural stairs built into the wall, the three vaulted chambers on the ground floor, and, on the north wall, a bartizan corbel carved with a human face, an odd little flourish left by the original builders.
Doing the walk
From the pier it is a 15 to 20 minute walk up, following the main road as it climbs. It is not far, but the surface is stony and uneven and the last of it is steep, so wear shoes with grip. Once you are up, you are free to walk around the ruin.
A word of caution: the walls are rickety and the structure is unstable. Getting to the parapet means a scramble over old stonework with nothing to hold you, so keep to the solid sections and skip the top entirely in high wind or rain. The view from the base of the keep is nearly as good, and a good deal safer.
The reward at the top is a full circle: Galway Bay to the north, the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher across the water to the southeast, and the Connemara hills beyond the bay. Sunset is the pick of it. Watch for seabirds riding the updrafts off the western edge of the island.
Nearby on the island
The castle sits well within a wider island loop, and everything on Inis Oírr is done on foot or by bike – you can hire one near the pier. An Loch Mór (An Loch Mór), the island’s small freshwater lake, is a short walk away and good for a quiet break. The half-buried ruin of St Kevin’s Church lies nearby, and out on the eastern shore is the rusting hulk of the Plassey, a cargo ship wrecked in 1960 and hauled up onto the rocks – the wreck familiar to anyone who has seen the opening credits of Father Ted.
Getting there
Ferries reach Inis Oírr from Doolin in County Clare, the shortest crossing at about 30 minutes, and from Rossaveel west of Galway city, around 90 minutes; there is also a 10-minute flight from Connemara Airport at Inverin. All of it is weather-dependent, and winter services thin right out, so check the timetable and, above all, the return times before you go – missing the last boat means a night on the island.
Toilets, a shop and cafés are down in the village near the pier; there is nothing at the castle, so carry water if you plan to sit a while. If you would rather visit a tower house you can walk straight into, Aughnanure Castle near Oughterard on the mainland is a well-preserved 16th-century keep with guided access.