A WEEK ON TORY ISLAND, 14.5 kilometres off the north-west coast of County Donegal, Ireland, - the most remote inhabited Irish island. It is five kilometres by one 1 kilometre with a population of 140, and we hear stories:
- Balor, the one eyed cyclops, was killed by his grandson
- An Eochar Mor/The big key is a vein of granite ..96 high with kittiwakes nesting on its sheer cliffs
- Kelp seaweed, poitin and shipwrecks were major sources of income
- More than half of the Irish corncrake population are on Tory .. 1,400 puffins and thousands of rabbits * the bell tower and great T shaped tau cross of St Colmcille’s monastery are still to be seen.
- Terrible slaughter of Tory Islanders in 1608 and1798
- The cure for the fairies stealing the milk .. here Irish is the language of the people
- The loneliness of going to the mainland to go to secondary school .. and now the island secondary school has seven teachers teaching seven pupils.
- The only place in Ireland with its own king
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