The Aran Islands (Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr) sit at the mouth of Galway Bay, h…

The Aran Islands (Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr) sit at the mouth of Galway Bay, home to around 1,200 Irish speakers. Dún Aonghasa, a semi-circular Iron Age fort on the edge of a 100-metre cliff, is the most famous of the islands’ prehistoric monuments. Their isolation preserved traditions the mainland lost: sean-nós singing, currach-building, dry stone walling and the Aran sweater. Writers have been drawn here for over a century, from Synge’s The Aran Islands to McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin. Until 1921 the islands were owned by absentee landlords; after independence, islanders finally got to own the land they’d farmed for generations.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​