Blasket Islands History
Blasket Islands History | Life, Writers & Heritage of Ireland’s Edge
At the far western edge of Europe, where the Atlantic crashes against Kerry’s cliffs, lie the Blasket Islands. A place as beautiful as it was unforgiving. The Blasket Islands' history is one of resilience, hardship, and extraordinary cultural legacy. Here, a small Irish-speaking community carved out a life through fishing, farming, and storytelling, their voices carrying far beyond the waves.
This journey through the Blaskets’ past explores how the islanders lived, what they created, and why their story still matters. From self-sufficient lifeways and world-renowned writers to decline, evacuation, and heritage preservation, the Blaskets remain a symbol of Ireland’s spirit on the Wild Atlantic Way. For those who wish to follow in their footsteps, today you can explore the islands with the Inish Tearaght Lighthouse & Blasket Islands Tour.
Early Settlement & Lifeways
Life on the Blasket Islands was never easy, but it was remarkably resourceful. Archaeological and historical records trace island lifeways from around 1500 CE through the early 1900s, showing how a small community survived on the edge of the Atlantic.
- Traditional fishing & Farming: Islanders relied on a mix of maritime and agrarian subsistence. Lobster, mackerel, and herring came from the sea, while potatoes, oats, rye, and cabbage grew in small, windswept plots. Sheep, cattle, pigs, and donkeys supported daily life.
- Fuel & Resources: With no trees on the islands, peat turf was cut for fuel. Driftwood and shipwreck flotsam supplied vital building materials – sometimes even crates of food, timber, or clothing washed ashore.
- Population: At its peak in the early 1900s, the Great Blasket Island settlement held around 170–200 people. Families lived in stone cottages clustered along the east end of the island, bound together by necessity and shared labour.
Though isolated and often harsh, this diverse subsistence economy allowed the Blaskets to remain self-sufficient for centuries.
Culture, Language & Storytelling
On Great Blasket Island, the heartbeat of daily life was carried in words – spoken, sung, and eventually written. This was a Gaeltacht community, part of Ireland’s Irish-speaking heartlands, where the language lived not just in conversation but in myth, memory, and song.
The Oral Storytelling Traditions
Storytelling was more than entertainment here – it was survival. Around the firelight, neighbours passed down tales of folklore, hardship, faith, and humour, binding the small island community together against the roar of the Atlantic. Every story was a reminder of resilience, every myth a thread tying the present to a shared past.
From Spoken Word to Written Legacy
In the early 1900s, visiting scholars realised the richness of this oral tradition and encouraged islanders to record their lives in writing. What began as a linguistic study blossomed into something extraordinary: the Blasket writers, a group of islanders whose works would become world-renowned.
The Blasket Writers
- Tomás Ó Criomhthain (1856–1937)
Farmer and fisherman, Tomás became the island’s best-known writer. Despite only being taught English at school, he mastered Irish writing in later life, producing classics like An tOileánach (The Islandman). His goal: to leave “a record of what life was like in my time and the neighbours that lived with me.” - Peig Sayers (1873–1958)
A natural storyteller, Peig dictated her life story and a vast collection of tales, songs, and customs. Her books, including Peig and An Old Woman’s Reflections, capture both personal experience and the oral traditions that shaped island identity. - Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (1904–1950)
His memoir Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) tells of youth on the Blaskets with freshness and humour. Internationally acclaimed when first published in 1933, it remains one of Ireland’s most celebrated autobiographies.
Together, their works form a window into a vanished world – one where the Irish-speaking community thrived, stories carried memory across generations, and island voices reached far beyond the Atlantic’s edge.
Themes of Hardship and Humanity
Together, their works reveal a tapestry of island life: the grind of fishing and farming, the ever-present pull of emigration, the warmth of family bonds, and the sharp wit of a people who could find humour even in hardship. Romanticised at times by outside readers, these accounts nonetheless remain a rare window into a community that has no parallel today.
Great Blasket’s voices still echo – not just as literature, but as living proof of how culture can endure, even on the edge of the world.
Hardship & Decline
An Isolated Life
The Blasket Islands offered no modern infrastructure. Houses were simple stone cottages with tarred felt roofs, lit by turf fires or seal oil lamps. With no trees and little arable land, residents relied on driftwood and shipwreck flotsam for tools and supplies.
A Subsistence Economy
Survival depended on a mix of fishing, farming, and seasonal trade:
- Fishing – lobster pots, nets, and naomhóg boats supplied fish and shellfish.
- Farming – oats, potatoes, and cabbage were grown in small plots, fertilised with seaweed and manure.
- Livestock – donkeys, sheep, pigs, and cows supported daily life and trade.
- Fuel & Resources – peat turf was cut and dried for fires; driftwood and salvaged cargo provided building materials.
Emigration Pressures
Despite this resourcefulness, life was precarious. Bad weather could cut off supplies for weeks, and poor fishing seasons brought hardship. From the late 19th century onward, younger generations emigrated in large numbers – especially to Springfield, Massachusetts, where a Blasket diaspora took root. Emigration to America was partly witnessed by letters and remittances, which kept ties strong but accelerated depopulation.
Population Decline
- Early 1900s: population peaked at ~200 residents.
- 1940s: only a few families remained.
- 1953: The Irish government ordered the final evacuation, citing safety concerns and unsustainable living conditions.
Legacy
The evacuation ended centuries of habitation, but the story of the Blaskets survives through the islanders’ own writings and archaeological research. Today, their legacy is recognised as a vital part of Ireland’s cultural heritage – evidence of resilience in the face of isolation and decline.
Nationalism & Romanticisation
The “Pure Irish” Ideal
In the early 1900s, the Blasket Islands were embraced by nationalists as a symbol of an authentic Irish identity. Islanders were portrayed as living simply, uncorrupted by British colonialism, modernity, or consumer culture. Their isolation and use of the Irish language made them a convenient emblem of cultural purity.
Romanticised Accounts
Visiting scholars encouraged islanders to record their lives in Irish. These books – later translated – were celebrated as windows into a timeless Gaelic world. Writers like Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, and Peig Sayers became central to this narrative.
- E.M. Forster, introducing Twenty Years A-Growing (1933), went so far as to call it “an account of a Neolithic civilisation from the inside.”
- Editors framed Tomás Ó Criomhthain as a man who had known “only hard work and few possessions” – casting him as the embodiment of Gaeltacht resilience.
A Critical Lens
While invaluable, these accounts cannot be read at face value. Many were shaped by outside scholars, who sought evidence of a “true” Ireland. The result was a romanticised image of Blasket life – one that highlighted hardship, simplicity, and tradition, while often downplaying the islanders’ engagement with trade, markets, and modern ideas.
Legacy of a Narrative
This nationalist framing helped elevate the Blaskets into Ireland’s cultural imagination, but it also created tension between the real lifeways of the community and the myth of the “untouched” islanders. Today, both the lived reality and the constructed narrative are part of the islands’ history.
Archaeology & Cultural Heritage Preservation
Since 2009, archaeologist Frank Coyne and the Office of Public Works have surveyed the ruins of the Great Blasket Island settlement. These studies – including 3D laser scans – reveal details of vernacular architecture:
- Stone cottages with packed clay floors and hearths.
- Tarred felt roofs, a later replacement for rough thatch.
- Naomhóg boats, wood-framed currachs sealed with tar, are essential for fishing and transport.
Layers of the Past
The island also holds earlier remains: medieval clochán huts linked to monastic pilgrimages, and later outbuildings reused for drying turf or storing livestock. These structures, standing amid windswept fields, tie the Blaskets to centuries of Irish coastal tradition.
Conservation Today
Preservation has become central to keeping the Blasket story alive. The Great Blasket Centre at Dún Chaoin houses exhibitions, photographs, and archives, connecting visitors with the island’s history, literature, and community. Conservation plans aim to protect not just the ruins, but also the cultural and natural landscape that defined life here.
World Heritage Ambitions
Kerry County Council has voiced hopes of nominating the Great Blasket for UNESCO World Heritage status. If successful, it would join nearby Skellig Michael as one of Ireland’s internationally recognised heritage sites, ensuring long-term protection and global recognition of the Blaskets’ unique legacy.
Blasket Islands' History: The Last Blasket King
Kingship on the Blasket Islands was never about castles, crowns, or power; it was about leadership in a place of constant struggle. The islanders gave the honorary title of “Rí” (king) to a community leader who represented them, settled disputes, and oversaw practical affairs. The most famous of these was Pádraig Peats Mhicí Ó Catháin (1860s–1929), remembered as the last King of the Great Blasket Island.
A Leader Without Wealth
Ó Catháin presided over a small but vibrant settlement of around 176 people. His authority was not political but communal, earned through trust, wisdom, and service. Islanders recalled him distributing mail at the slipway, organising fishing, and offering guidance in difficult times.
Friend of the Writers
Though less famous internationally than the Blasket writers, Ó Catháin was central to their world. Tomás Ó Criomhthain, the “Islandman,” was his closest friend, and their boyhood adventures became part of island lore. His leadership provided the backdrop to the very stories that later defined the island’s legacy.
A Symbol of Resilience
His passing in 1929 marked the end of an era. Within a single generation after his death, the community he guided was scattered by emigration and finally the Island evacuation (1953). Yet his memory endures, celebrated in The Last Blasket King (2015), a biography written by Gerald Hayes and Eliza Kane, Ó Catháin’s great-great-granddaughter.
Legacy Today
Ó Catháin embodies the paradox of the Blaskets: a humble man, living in poverty, yet remembered as a “king” – a symbol of resilience, dignity, and community on Ireland’s western edge. For many descendants and visitors, his story personalises the island’s decline while deepening its mystique.
Final Words
The story of the Blasket Islands is one of endurance — a community that survived on the edge of the Atlantic, leaving behind literature, folklore, and heritage that still inspire. Though the last residents left in 1953, their voices live on in stone ruins, preserved traditions, and the words of the great Blasket writers.
To truly understand Blasket Islands' history, you must experience it where it happened. Step onto the island paths, hear the wind over the ruins, and feel the weight of stories that echo across the sea. Begin your own journey into the Blaskets’ past with the Inish Tearaght Lighthouse & Blasket Islands Tour
