October 1927, twenty-five fishermen
The Cleggan Disaster
A sudden Atlantic storm struck on October 27, 1927. Fishing boats from Cleggan and nearby villages went down. Twenty-five fishermen were killed — the worst maritime loss in Connemara in the 20th century. The village was small. The loss was total. Richard Murphy, an Irish poet, wrote 'The Cleggan Disaster' in 1963, published as part of his collection. The poem is careful and exact. It names what happened and why it is remembered. The village knows this year.
7th century monks, still inhabited
Inishbofin
An island 9 kilometres offshore. The ferry is 30 minutes. The island has maybe 200 people. Monks settled it in the 7th century — a monastic community, early Christian. The island was raided by Vikings, the monks left, the island kept going. Today it is quiet. The pubs are real pubs — they close at five o'clock unless someone is drinking. Stay overnight and the island shifts. Quieter, stranger, more itself. The light at dusk is the reason.
"Buck Mulligan" and Renvyle House
Oliver St John Gogarty
Oliver St John Gogarty was a doctor, writer, and the man Joyce put in Ulysses as 'Buck Mulligan'. He owned Renvyle House, inland from Cleggan, on the coast west of here. He sailed from this coast, knew the fishermen, lived in the literary Dublin of the early 20th century. Renvyle House still stands — now a hotel. The connection is literary and historical. Joyce's Mulligan was drawn from life, and the life was anchored to this coast.