Islands of Ireland: Inishturk Beg has changed hands over the years for vast sums
Inishturk beg Island, County Mayo
There are a few Inishturks in the country the largest of which in County Mayo is positioned just south of Clew Bay. There is another, Inishturk Beg, nestled in the inner part of the bay, hiding in plain sight as it were, among the scores of islands there.
Inis Torc Beg translates as Small Island of the Boar and the name itself gives a clue as to past farming practices. Though virtually all of the islands in Clew Bay are uninhabited, Inishturk Beg has occupants who moved there in 2013.
The island has changed hands for vast sums in recent years. In 2003 the Irish-Egyptian businessman Nadim Sadek purchased the island for €1m before investing a further €9m in developing it as a mini-holiday complex including a marina, rental houses, tennis court and a heated swimming pool. It even made an appearance on RTÉ’s programme. Sadek transformed an otherwise unremarkable island into one of the most talked about properties in the country.
He developed a whiskey distillery and produced the single malt Maiden Voyage which still fetches high prices on the market. He also hosted art events, established a traditional band, and fostered an artistic milieu based from the island.
He sold the island in 2013 for €2.85m after running into financial problems. He told a newspaper at the time: “Having travelled the world, I am certain that Inish Turk Beg is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It inspires, intoxicates, enlivens. Those who come after me benefit from a decade of loving investment, building and imagining. The island and the sea have taught me many things, among which is that some journeys are orbital and you never know when you might end up back where you started again."
However, Sadek was just the latest in adventurous spirits who chose to live on Inishturk Beg. The island’s previous owners were intrepid enough to live there for 14 years despite the challenges. Bob and Thelma Van Duijil from Rotterdam in the Netherlands, lived on Inishturk Beg from 1988 to 2002 and ran a scientific publishing business from there, at a time when remote working was but a dream. The Van Duijils were famous around Westport for a few years appearing in town in their amphibious car. And as far as countering loneliness living on an island, they told the Western People: “You can live in a big city like Rotterdam and never know your neighbours. It’s a matter of perception. One person’s freedom is another’s claustrophobia.”
Inishturk Beg is a sizeable 59 acres, and at 51m in altitude is the highest of the islands in Clew Bay, or strictly speaking, Newport Bay, named after the town further to the east. Most islands in Clew Bay have no trees, but Inishturk Beg has a decent smattering of them. Its population peaked at 57 people pre-Famine, the dwellings obliterated by the hand of time.
Among the names of the people who lived on the island recently were Stoney, Diagely, and latterly, Berry. A Mary Berry lived on the island according to the 1911 census with her three children. Her antecedents almost definitely lived there too, or on another Clew Bay Island. A Bridget Graham Berry is recorded as having died on the island in 1853 and is interred at a church graveyard on the very small neighbouring island of Inishdaft. And as proof that island living can be very good for you, her husband Thady, lived until the age of 96 and is also buried on Inishdaft. And he survived the Famine when County Mayo was particularly badly affected.
Thady had jointly leased the 59 acres of Inishturk with William Berry (possibly a brother) in 1855 from the notorious marquis of Sligo, George John Browne. A description of Browne’s merciless treatment of his tenants during the Famine reads: “Village after village were blotted out, and for miles around the solitude was unbroken by the voice of man. The Marquis of Sligo, false to the religion of his ancestors, sent his Catholic tenants adrift.” Thady survived those troubled times.
: Privately owned
Western People 14/10/1998
