€1.25m island attracts international enquiries
There has been interest expressed in acquiring the 80-acre island off the Connemara coast that has come to the market with a price tag of €1.25 million.
The auctioneers selling the island, known as High Island or Ardoilean, have confirmed to the Connacht Tribune that interest has been expressed from three different sources.
Enquiries have come from potential purchasers in the States, the UK while a man in Dublin has also expressed a keen interest in the property.
Luke Spencer of Spencer Auctioneers in Oughterard said that while there has been some mischievous enquiries, he describes these three expressions of interest as ‘genuine’.
The island which is home to ruins and artefacts dating back to 300 BC, is located around three kilometres off the coast from Claddaghduff.
“Those who have made enquiries have just asked for further information regarding the island and access to it.
“None of them have made any offer as yet but it is very early days as the property has only been on the market for more than a week.
“I haven’t been speaking to any of them yet as all of the contact is by email but I am sure they will want to view the island but realistically we will not be able to go out to the island for at least another month,” Luke Spencer added.
The auctioneer is expecting interest to be expressed by the State in acquiring the island given its historical significance and the abundance of bird life, but there has been no contact from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The island is 1.2km long and 0.4km wide, with its highest point at 63.3 metres above sea level and it is assumed that if it is purchased by a private individual, it would be their intention to develop a summer residence there.
By the seventh century, High Island was home to a relatively thriving community of hardy monks. But by the early part of the 19th century, the island was stripped of human life save for a handful of copper miners whose last excavation took place in the 1820s.
Alongside the monastic ruins – the monastery was reputedly founded by Saint Féichín – the island also has an intact stone beehive hut, an old miner’s cottage, a functioning septic tank and two fresh water lakes.
Between 1969 and 1998 the island was owned by poet Richard Murphy and it inspired many of his works including, most notably, an anthology which shared its name.
While Murphy owned the island he was only an occasional visitor and, in Connemara: The Last Pool of Darkness by Tim Robinson, a story is told about how the poet had planned to spend more time there and even bought himself a traditional sailboat for his crossings and had the miner’s cottage partially roofed.
In the mid-1980s, Murphy offered the island as a gift to the nation with the hope that it would be used exclusively as a wildlife sanctuary.
However, according to Robinson, the “State’s response to this was so laggardly that the gesture was withdrawn and eventually the island was sold to a trusted friend of Murphy in Feichin Mulkerrin”.
He has owned the island since then and has worked hard in a low key fashion at keeping it as a wildlife sanctuary.
Mr Spencer said he would be happy to take potential buyers to view the property but only if he could establish they had both a desire and the financial means to acquire the island.