Rihla (The Journey) – was the short title of a 14th
Century (1355 CE) book written in Fez by the Islamic legal scholar Ibn Jazayy
al-Kalbi of Granada who recorded and then transcribed the dictated travelogue
of the Tangerian, Ibn Battuta. The book’s full title was A Gift to Those who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels
of Travelling and somehow the title of Ibn Jazayy's book captures the ethos
of many of the city and country journeys I have been lucky to take in past
years.
This is the second rihla ( see: Rihla 47) about the quays of the
Connemara Islands (na hOileáin); this time exploring those of Gorumna Island.
“Actually I never understand
the why of anything –
my own obscure
but insistent motivations least of all.”
William Seabrook
Adventures in Arabia
1928
I came across Seabrook’s
book recently quite by accident and never having heard of one of America’s 'Lost
Generation' explorists (I use explorist rather than explorer because Seabrook’s curiosity
led him beyond geography to occultism and cannibalism amongst other travels!) I
was quite astounded by the descriptive detail and sheer enjoyment of social and
geographic exploration in this, one of his earliest books. It also somehow sums
up my own failure to adequately explain my reason’s for wanting to go
somewhere... or anywhere!
In Gorumna Island’s case,
there was the logical explanation of it being the second part of my exploration
of the quays and slipways of the Connemara islands, but allied to this, knowing at the back of my mind, was a
recurring curiosity about the origin of the name. I just did not understand the
why?
Books to Topograph with!
I recently got a present of
Robert Macfarlane’s book, Landmarks an etymological exploration and glossary of
the ever-evolving language of landscape, conceived as a ‘counter-desecration’
and counter-eradication phrasebook. Impressive as his scholarly effort is it
pales into almost opaqueness by the efforts of another scholar living in Qatar,
and generously highlighted by Macfarlane at the end of his book, a Simon
Fitzwilliam-Hall who starting with Arabic, Persian, Turkish has analysed 140
living and dead languages and geographies in a ‘vast’ work in progress which is
called Language in the Landscape: A Multilingual Glossary of Topographical
Terms and Place-Name elements in the Afro-Eurasian Lands (The Topoglossary for
short). Macfarlane records that the “B” section alone, beginning with ba the
Akkadian for water, of the Topoglossary comes to 343 pages. With this in mind
my efforts to understand the etymology of Gorumna is almost embarrassing.
The Irish for Gorumna is Garmna
and Irish dictionaries point to this as being a variant spelling of garma, which means a cross-beam such as
that on a gallows or cross, or topographically a long protective sandbar or peninsula.
Tim Robinson in his gazetteer of Connemara advocates another derivation of the
name from gar meaning near and omhna an oak tree. Gorumna has not
gallows, peninsulas, sandbars or much in the way of oak and I suspect the origin of the name goes back much more to its value as a piece of ground to the original inhabitants of the area.
A pictorial from The Graphic magazine in May 1880 showing
a famine relief visit from the Duke of Edinburgh to Gorumna.
John Millington Synge wrote as he passed through
Gorumna in the company of Jack Butler Yeats in the summer of 1905 that, The remainder of the road to the lower
western end of Gorumna led through hilly districts that became more and more
white with stone, though here and there a few brown masses of bog or an oblong
lake with many islands and rocks. Gorumna has always had, I suspect, a
denuded topography and that what turf producing bogs were present were cleared early in the Bronze Age. Being resource-poor for turf I suggest that origin of the island’s name is more
likely to be from garrmóna meaning
soft or worthless turf, the word itself derived from garr which is the effluent of washed-off nutrients of a landscape caused by winter rains and móna which is turf.
Map and Locations
1. Céibh an Mháimín
Quay of the Small Pass
This quay was designed by Alexander Nimmo in 1822
Potting for lobster (gliomach), crab (portán rua) and shrimp (ribe róibéis) is a well established activity although shrimp potting is declining as the economic returns are poor for the effort extended. Velvet Swimming Crab (luaineachán), scallop (muirín), oyster (oisre), razor clams (scian mhara), crayfish (gabhal mara) are also harvested on a defined seasonal basis.
2. Céibhe na Speice
Quay of the Glance (glint of light)
The main rock formations on the northern part of the island are granite (Errisbeg GaEb-Type) whereas those on the southern shores are volcanic and sedimentary. The harvested seaweed is Knotted Wrack (femainn bhuí).
3. Céibh Ghlais na nUan
Quay of the Stream of the Lambs
4. Céibh an Doirin Darach
Quay of the Small Oakwood
5. Céibh an Trá Bháin
Quay of the White Beach
The Song of the Drowning
Pilgrim's (Oilitherach) Church overlooking Trá Bháin
6. Céibh an tAircín
Quay of the Creek
7. Céibh an tSáilín
Quay of the Little Heel (Inlet) of the Sea
8. Céibh Sheanachamheas
Quay of the Gathering (to Compare)
The island in the background is Oileán an Anama, Island of the Spirit. There is a Connemara seafaring tradition that if you dropped anything overboard you should not retrieve it as if the sea is denied it will come looking for a soul next time.
The access road to this quay is blocked by a rickety gate that keeps the cattle in. Interesting name and this designation is very much my own. I suspect the Gathering referred to was perhaps an annual event to compare some specific commercial sea-harvest. In the 16th & 17th centuries, ambergris the undigested cartilage of squids spewed out by whales and gathered on the shoreline, and a substance used in perfumes with a value greater than rare metals, was an O'Flaherty monopoly, and was traded with Spain. It might make a comeback as a commercial resource if the reputed numbers of whales off our coasts continue to rise.
9. Céibh Poll Uí Mhuirin
Quay of O'Murrin's Hollow
10. No-Name Medieval Monastery and Churchyard
Southern edge of Ballynakill Lough
The Rock of Doom!
Gort an Mhaoil or Field of the Delay, named after a local man
who was held up for three days by fairies (or something else entirely!)
11. Céibh Baile na Cille
Quay of the Village of the Church
12. Céibh na Fionnoige
Quay of the Crowberry
13. An Caladh Beag
The Small Harbour
14. Bóthar na nOileáin
The intertidal causeway that links Inis Bearcháin to Gorumna
1872 OS Map showing Causeway
The tidal ranges in this area are about 4m at spring and 2m at neap tides. The remaining 200m or so of causeway is about 1.2m high and 6m wide. The earliest causeways to the islands predate the 1830s onwards famine-relief constructions and probably have existed since the Bronze Age.
15. Céibhe Ghleann Trasna
Quay of the Crosswise Glen
16. Céibhe an Roisín
Quay of the Small Headland
