¹J.H. (John Healy). "A Pilgrimage to Innismurry." The Irish Monthly 5 (1877): 433.

²Wakeman, W. F., and James Mills. A Survey of the Antiquarian Remains on the Island of Inismurray. London: Williams & Norgate, 1893. v.
From the preface by James Mills. The text may be read in its entirety here.

³Delaney, Mary Murray. Of Irish Ways. Minneapolis: Dillon, 1973. 22.

⁴O'Sullivan, Jerry, and Tomás Ó Carragáin. Inishmurray: Monks and Pilgrims in an Atlantic Landscape. Cork: Collins, 2008. xix.
The authors conclude: "The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government receives more requests each year to save sites under threat from the sea, but the problem is enormous and seemingly unstoppable. Often, the best one can do is to ensure that the site is fully recorded and leave nature to take its course."

⁵O'Sullivan 5.
The location of the Bronze Age cist discovered in 1938 by James Harte has been identified as the group of erect slabs a visitor to Inishmurray today may note when stepping off the boat after it lands in the Clashymore inlet. It is further described by the authors (p. 199): "The hollow is 2 m deep on the west side, but only 0.6 m on the east, where it overlooks the wave-cut rock terraces of Clashymore. Within the hollow, large, flat, edge-set slabs form the north and east sides of what may once have been a lintelled short cist...The site was examined by E. Estyn Evans who was satisfied that it was a later prehistoric funerary cist; the whereabouts of an associated urn or food vessel are now unknown."

⁶Wakeman 61.

⁷Harbison, Peter. "Beranger and Bigari: Lost and Found!" Archaeology Ireland 16.4 (2002): 30.
A few of these drawings may be seen online here. Harbison explains the provenance of the Berganger and Bigari drawings: "Sir William Wilde, himself a Connacht man of many parts, had searched in vain for any original pictorial material surviving from the tour, and could only point his readers towards the engravings in Grose's Antiquities for evidence of its artistic achievements. But what Wilde did not know was that, around 1810, many of the original views (mainly by Bigari), as well as plans and details (largely by Beranger), had been bought from Burton Conyngham's heirs by Austin Cooper, who, along with members of his family, had already made copies of many of them in the years 1794 and 1799. These copies have a special value of their own because many of them were based on originals that have not managed to survive, perhaps disposed of in the nineteenth century by Cooper's son, also named Austin, who 'unlike his father was devoid of all literary taste.' It is a hopeful thought that these lost drawings may yet turn up in some unexpected attic, but we can regard ourselves as fortunate that those originals and copies which did survive were acquired by the National Library in 1994, where they can, incidentally, be studied via the internet on the online Catalogue of the Library's Prints & Drawings Department."

⁸McGowan, Joe. Inishmurray, Island Voices. Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo: Aeolus, 2004. 156-57.
According to the author, the correct rendition of the Irish phrase used by Beranger would be Tabhair dom póg, cailin óg.

⁹Wakeman 6.
The author further advises the tourist: "In the event of contrary winds causing prolonged stay, it would be desirable for visitors to bring with them creature comforts, such as tea, coffee, bread, &c., and perhaps some tinned meats—fish they can generally be supplied with on the spot. It is not amiss to have a few ounces of common twist tobacco for distribution amongst the islanders, whose services in small matters will at times be required,. They are often very proud, and will at times refuse money, which they think has not been earned—but tobacco, never! for that is a gift which, as a native once said to me, 'one gentleman may receive from another.'"

¹⁰Wakeman vi.
From the preface by James Mills.

¹¹Killanin, Michael Morris, and Michael V. Duignan. The Shell Guide to Ireland. London: Ebury P. in Association with George Rainbird, 1967. 308-9.
James Mills noted in 1893: "The Report is not accompanied by either drawings, plans, or measurements. But it holds out the promise of judicious work, to be done only where needed for preservation. It was natural to look forward to the final report on the treatment of remains of so great interest and value. It is, therefore, rather disappointing to find the Superintendent's next report consisting but of two sentences: Innishmurray Island, Co. Sligo. A careful inspection, and report on the curious remains on this island appeared in last year's report. The works therein recommended have been undertaken and satisfactorily completed.' (49th Rep. Public Works, Ireland (1880-1), Appendix p. 93)." (Wakeman xviii.)

¹²Wood-Martin, W.G. Pagan Ireland. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895. 192.

¹³O'Sullivan 25.
The authors further commented on Wakeman 1885 fieldwork: "His account of the associated religious practices and other traditions of the islanders was thoughtful and sympathetic. Despite this, his survey does have some shortcomings. Although there are many handsome and detailed sketches of the major monuments, the report offers no scaled plans or elevations apart from one sketch-plan of the Cashel. Furthermore, his record of the cross-slabs and early memorial inscriptions is selective and sometimes inaccurate."

¹⁴Heraughty, Patrick. Inishmurray: Ancient Monastic Island. Dublin: O'Brien, 1982. 19-20.
The author concludes: "Our understanding of this period is hampered by a number of factors. Accidental fires and those caused by enemy action destroyed much written material in Irish monastic houses. Moreover, Irish religious communities are accepted as having been some of the world's worst record keepers. To the best of available knowledge the monastic settlement on Inishmurray was founded circa 520 A.D. and ended in the latter part of the twelfth century..."
St. Molaise in known as the confessor to St. Columba (Colm Cille), which may be evidence of the ties between the monastery at Inishmurray and Columba's center at Iona in Scotland. As confessor, St. Molaise would have mandated St. Colm Cille exile from Ireland after the terrible slaughter Colm Cille caused at the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561 (the Battle of the Books). It was said that Colm Cille's used his cloak to walk over the water to Inishmurray. (McGowan, Joe. Inishmurray: Gale, Stone, and Fire : Portrait of a Fabled Island. Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo: Aeolus, 1998. 11-12.)
St. Molaise was also referred to as Muirdeach, which may have been the island's original name's in Irish. Successor abbots on Inishmurray appear to have also used the name Molaise. 

¹⁵Healy 436.

¹⁶O'Sullivan 33-35.
The authors note that both Wakeman (1893) and Herity (1983) suggested that the Cashel was originally a secular settlement later gifted to the Church. Finding no evidence in support of this in their excavation of several monuments outside the Cashel, the authors suggest that only excavation within the monastery wall could determine the answer. They conclude that "based upon present evidence it seems to us just as likely that it was built as an ecclesiastical enclosure."
On the other hand, Joe McGowan cites an early O.S map where there are indications of an outer concentric ring on three sides which mighty support the view that the Cashel wall is over 2,000 years old. "A series of defensive steppings on the north-western part probably completely encircled the enclosure at one time." (McGowan, Joe. Inishmurray: Gale, Stone, and Fire : Portrait of a Fabled Island. Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo: Aeolus, 1998. 20.)

¹⁷Harbison, Peter. Pilgrimage in Ireland: the Monuments and the People. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Univ., 1992. 100.

¹⁸McGowan, Joe. Inishmurray: Gale, Stone, and Fire : Portrait of a Fabled Island. Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo: Aeolus, 1998. 14.
The author suggest that the Abbey of Staad, in Streedagh, on the mainland across from Inishmurray, may have housed the monks from the island in 1588.
Harbison cited as evidence for the island monastery's transferal to the mainland, "perhaps after the Norse raid but certainly by the 13th century," the fact that an abbey at Aughris was known as Insula Mury until the 15th century. (Harbison, Pilgrimage 100.)

¹⁹McGowan, Voices 105-106.

²⁰McGowan, Voices 107.
The author writes: "Only men were buried in the Cashel. The cloistered ground refused the coffins of women buried there. Mysteriously they were found overground in the morning. It was a taboo that could not be broken."

²¹O'Sullivan 66.

²²Healy 436-37.
Some writers have noted one opening, called Dorais an Uisge (water door), near a well on the northeast was where'all male islanders "who met a watery death" were carried into the Cashel for burial. (McGowan, Gale 20.)

²³Harbison, 101.
The author noted the mortar dating information soon after Professor Ranier Berger and his colleagues analyzed a sample of the mortar from the oldest part of Teach Molaise which provided a calibrated radiocarbon date of AD 700-900, suggesting "that the building is not only early in the history of mortared stone buildings in Ireland, but is probably the earliest surviving ecclesiastical structure on the island."

²⁴McGowan, Gale 23-4.
In his other Inishmurray book the author reports that the two stone benches in Teac Molaise, Altoir Molaise (Molaise's altar) and Leaba Molaise (Molaise's bed) demonstrate that the saint celebrated Mass and also slept in Teach Molaise. According to tradition, he is buried here as well. (McGowan, Voices 113-16.)

²⁵Wakeman, W.F. "Inis Muiredaich, Now Inismurray, and Its Antiquities." The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland Fourth 7.64 (1885): 229.
Regarding the altar, Wakeman wrote: "It would appear that archaeology has suffered an irreparable loss by the disappearance from Teach-na-Teinidh of a most remarkable flagstone, called Leac-na-Teinidh, ‘the Stone of the Fire," by which a supposed miraculous hearth, the foundations of which still remain, was until lately covered. The slab is said by several of the natives of the island to have been broken and utilized as building material by the reconstructors of the gable just referred to. It was, I believe, the only relic remaining in Ireland which appeared to be connected in some way, perhaps long forgotten, with the mysterious fire-worship practised by our Aryan forefathers."

²⁶Wakeman, Inis Muiredaich 230.
Joe McGowan quotes a verse from a traditional island song commemorating the fate meted out to the violator of the altar's sanctity:
"The mystic flag that lights the sod profaned long, long ago,
The heretic did not believe consumed for doing so.
His bones lie there to tell the tale exposed for ages past
He expiated for his crime and there met with his last."
(McGowan Gale 24-6.)

²⁷O'Sullivan 76.
Regarding the bones, supposedly of the transgressor, reported by earlier visitors, the authors noted that Wm. Wakeman reported finding burnt bone in a wall niche. The further noted that Lord Mountbatten believed that the building was used to house human bones from the cemetery, perhaps disturbed by grave digging. They were quoting from Lord Louis Mountbatten's unpublished 1967 guidebook, "A Short Guide to Inishmurray." Mountbatten's long association with the waters off Inishmurray was to come to a very unhappy end in 1979.

²⁸Harbison, Pilgrimage 228.
In Co. Cork it was noted in 1896 that at the Cloch-na-breacaibh "The Sinner's Stone," a holed stone near Kilgrave Church, women would draw clothes through the hole when nearing childbirth "to secure a favourable result." (Frazer, W. "On 'Holed' and Perforated Stones in Ireland." The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland XXVI (1896): 163. )

²⁹O'Sullivan 81.
Of the ritual undertaken by pregnant women, Wakeman wrote: "In connexion with this pillar a custom, which is worthy of record, very generally prevails. Women who expect shortly to become mothers are wont hither to resort for the purpose of praying for a happy issue from the perils of their impending travail. The natives assert that death in childbirth is an unknown calamity upon the island. The postulants kneel, passing their thumbs into the front, and their fingers into the side openings, by which means a firm grasp of the angles of the stone is obtained. They are thus enabled to rise from their act of obeisance with a minimum of strain or difficulty." (Wakeman 76-78.)

³⁰Killanin 308-9.
Note, in the Wakeman plan of the Cashel available in a magnified view on our page, that the large clochán is identified as " School House."

³¹Zucchelli, Christine. Stones of Adoration Sacred Stones and Mystic Megaliths of Ireland. Doughcloyne, Wilton, Cork: Collins, 2007. 144.
The author reported that accounts in hagiography and folklore assert that the saints and early missionaries left rounded stones as remembrances to the converted before leaving them to spread the faith elsewhere. "The stones preserved the essence of the saint and, following the saint's instructions on their proper use, enabled the community to communicate with the divine."

³²O'Sullivan 103.
The round stones on the Clocha Breaca are made of sandstone and range in size from around 15–50 cm (6–20 in). William Wakeman, in 1892, reported finding only five decorated "cursing stones" on the altar: "Only five of the many altar-stones (sometimes styled "Cursing" or "Swearing Stones") remaining on Clochabreaca are decorated. In all cases the figure presented is that of a Greek cross, enclosed by a circle. Two of the examples which I shall first describe are highly ornate, so much so, indeed, that their design might form a valuable study to an illuminating artist intent on reproducing early Irish work of sacred, or simply decorative, character." (Wakeman 62-4.)

³³McGowan, Voices 145-47.
The author relates the story of an RUC constable stationed on the island who expressed his contempt for the native beliefs by taking one of the cursing stones and concealing in his barracks. He was forced to return the stone when, for no logical explanation, the building began shaking so that "'the roof was nearly caving in by the trembling of the building.'"
Wakeman offered a suggested use for the mysterious "bottle" stones: "... stones of most singular and mysterious character, unlike, indeed, any remains hitherto noticed as appertaining to rites or usages of the ancient Irish Church...It consists of a block of sandstone—the prevailing stone of the island—measuring about two feet in extreme length; the upper portion is somewhat cube-shaped; the lower consists of a sort of stem, or shaft, gradually narrowing as it descends, and evidently intended for insertion in a base of some kind. The latter, if it consisted of a single stone, unfortunately cannot now be found; but it is not unlikely that the shaft may originally have been socketed in the masonry of the altar. A small hollow, circular in plan, descends vertically into the body of the stone, to a distance which, owing to the presence of decayed matter, probably vegetable, within it, I could not ascertain with accuracy. A cover, formed of a flag, and having a stopper, like what we see in modern glass ware, of a size exactly fitting the neck of the boring, usually surmounts the stone, but is sometimes laid beside it...Tradition, on the island, as far as I am aware, has nothing to say concerning the purpose to which this unique object was anciently applied. Could it have been a primitive chrismatory [container for holy anointing oil]?" (Wakeman 68-70.)

³⁴McGowan, Voices 145-47.

³⁵Harbison, Pilgrimage 103.
Joe McGowan, quoting John O'Donovan, presents the metaphor of a man chopping wood: "If the axe falls fairly it will split the timber, if not, it will fly out and injure the axeman. A curse, once pronounced as to fall on something or someone and can, 'remain for seven years in the air ready to alight on the head of the person who provoked it. .. causing the loss of health, wealth, or even life... curses, like chickens come home to roost!'" (McGowan, Voices 145-47.)

³⁶McGowan, Voices 140.
The author notes that the word "curse" comes from the Irish, cursachadh, or "abuse."
Fr. John Healy reported in 1877 that a woman, "in mockery of the superstition, turned the stones against herself, and died within the twelve months." (Healy 437-38.)

³⁷Wakeman 61.

³⁸In addition to our "virtual reality cursing stone," there is another way to replicate an Inishmurray cursing stone. The stones were removed from the island c. 2010 for safekeeping and for digital 3D scanning. The result of this program will be computer files theoretically allowing cursing stones replicates to be created using a 3D printer. "The Discovery Programme worked in collaboration with the National Monuments Service of the OPW to undertake the 3D recording of a selection of the Clocha Breaca, decorated 'cursing' stones from early medieval church site on Inishmurray, Co. Sligo. Originally located on the leacht at the Cashel the stones (worked sandstone) had been removed from the island for conservation and protection from the impact of erosion. Eight stones (with two stone 'stoppers') were selected for scanning, ranging from 15 – 50cm in diameter with a variety in the level of carved detail." More information may be found here.
Tour boat operators Trudy and Rodney Lomax, when asked by OPW to use their boat to remove the stones from the island, would not take a chance on violating the old superstitions. "We refused to carry them on our boat," said Trudy. (Lomax, Trudy. "Inishmurray." Message to the author. 11 June 2013. E-mail.)

³⁹The statue of St. Molaise, removed from Inishmurray, is at the Collins Barracks (Decorative Arts and History) annex of the National Museum of Ireland.

⁴⁰Heraughty 25.
According to the author, it was Fr. Brian O'Crehan, curate at Grange, who devised the solution to protected the statue of St. Molaise from further damage.

⁴¹McGowan, Gale 22-23.
Other experts believe that the wooden statue may be as early as the ninth century. While the Gobán Saor is usually thought of as a fabled architect, he was also a legendary builder in wood. More here.

⁴²McGowan, Gale 22-23.
The author's informant told him that when the man attempting to burn the statue was on the boat returning to the mainland, he went mad and had to be "'smothered between two blankets.'"

⁴³Healy 437.
William Wakeman quoted from an Ordnance Survey letter of John O'Donovan (July, 1836) which lambasts those who would ridicule the islanders' beliefs regarding the statue of St. Molaise: "It is astonishing how preachers, and ignorant uneducated rascals of that description, have been able to say so much about the figure of Molash, and pass over the most curious remains of antiquity on this island, which will yet attract the notice of men of real learning and true piety, when hypocritical cant shall be condemned as a science having a worse tendency than phrenology..." (Wakeman vii. From the preface by James Mills)

⁴⁴Burke, Cormac. "A Crozier and Bell from Inishmurray and Their Place in Ninth-Century Irish Archaeology." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature 85C (1985): 145-68.
According to Patrick Heraughty, "We know from the detailed account book kept by Walker from 1836 to 1845 that he paid £2.00 to Underwood for the old bell on 26 January 1842. Most likely the bell and crozier were acquired together by Walker from a local person." (Heraughty 38.)
From an article on Roger Chambers Walker we learn that his museum included "dug-up, purchased or swapped items. Much of the collection was found locally or came from throughout Sligo including the island of Inishmurray...Some items were acquired by devious means while collectors vied with each other to outwit each other in the acquisition of choice items." From the abstract of this article, the author states: "Walker combined the life of a landowner and landlord with that of a barrister. Added to this he combined the role of antiquarian looter in the adjacent Carrowmore area and collector of antiquities." (Ireland, Aideen M. "Roger Chambers Walker: A Sligo Antiquarian." The Journal of Irish Archaeology 11 (2002): 152.)

⁴⁵Harbison, Pilgrimage 104-105.

⁴⁶O'Sullivan 10.
The authors' excavations of the widely-dispersed leachta, some believed to be stations of the pattern, provided evidence of the antiquity of the practice.

⁴⁷Heraughty 27-32.
The hermit cell station is also spelled Trahan 0 Riain ("0 Ryan's Cell"). Heraughty notes that the name was given to this station by John O'Donovan, but was unknown on Inishmurray in modem times.
While this cell might have been a long-term habitation for a hermit, O'Sullivan and Ó Carragáin state that it may also have "provided shelter and seclusion for fasting, prayer and penance by various individuals on short retreats rather than continuous habitation for one dedicated individual." (O'Sullivan 237-38.)

⁴⁸Heraughty back jacket.
Dr. Heraughty spent his first twelve years on Inishmurray. He later trained as a doctor and practiced in Sligo. He was Vice President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1978-81) and President of the Sligo Field Club. See this article about the event held to celebrate his 90th birthday.

⁴⁹Heraughty 27-32.
Pilgrims fasted for the entire day, and did three clockwise rounds about each of the stations barefoot, reciting five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys and the Creed at each of the stations, with a few exceptions). The Inishmurray Stations:
1. Teach Molaise, St. Molaise's Chapel.
2. Leachta Cholmcille ("memorial altar of Colmcille") is just south of the Cashel.
3. Roilig Odhrain (Oran's Cemetery") is 21.34 m (70 yds) to the west.
4. Ulla Mhuire, or "Mary's altar," is located near Classymore.
5. The hermit's cell, Trahan 0 Riain ("0 Ryan's Cell"), at the most western point of the island.
6. Cros Mhór or "Great Cross," lies to the east.
7. This station is both Trahan Aodh ("Hugh's cell") and Tobar na Córach or the "well of the fair [weather]."
8. Leachta Phádraig—the memorial altar to St. Patrick—is located right on the cliff edge.
9. Trionoid Mhór ("Big Station of the Trinity").
10. Trionoid Bheag ("Small Station of the Trinity'). Stations 9 and 10 are located just in front of the central houses on the coastal street.
11. Teampall na mBan or the "church of the women," just south of the Cashel.
12. Altair Bheag, the "Small Altar" inside the Cashel.
13. A second small altar, whose name is lost.
14. Teampall na bhFear, the "Men's Church."
15. Clocha Breaca, the "Speckled (or cursing) Stones."
16. Teach Molaise, St. Molaise's Chapel.
The full pilgrimage round was known as the "Big Station" and took four hours. to complete. There was also an abridged version, called the "Wee Station."

⁵⁰McGowan, Voices 156-57.
Beranger noted in 1779 that "when they find themselves overstocked they send their children, when able, to the main to provide for themselves, who do not return but on visits to their parents, or to take possession of an inheritance."

⁵¹O'Sullivan 12-13.
A census in 1659 recorded only three people, or perhaps three households.
According to Patrick Heraughty, Inishmurray was in the modern era owned by the Hipsley and Sullivan estate. These owners had someone approach farmer Domhnall O'Heraughty with the proposition that in exchange for his holdings elsewhere he take the whole of Inishmurray to farm. "Domhnall was not a ready taker and tried to parry the offer as best he could, but both men knew that as a tenant Domhnall was in the weaker position. One of Domhnall's objections was that he would not be able to find a wife to live in isolation with him on the island. But the adroit Wynne was prepared for this, and had obtained the agreement of Margaret McNulty, a cook at Hazelwood, that she would marry Domhnall and go to the island with him. With this and some minor objections overcome, Domhnall had little choice but to accept the offer of Inishmurray." (Heraughty 43-4.)

⁵²O'Sullivan 12-13.
Voices from the Dawn also features the deserted village of Slievemore on Achill Island, in Co. Mayo. Other small Irish islands have also been depopulated in recent times, such as the Blasket Islands off Co. Kerry's Dingle Peninsula. For a photograph (courtesy Trudy Lomax) of the deserted homes seen in our virtual-reality environment with a colorful growth of spring flowers (2013) click here.

⁵³Healy 435.

⁵⁴Heraughty 61.
Joe McGowan recorded this account of a festive occasion: "Then, after all the playin' an' dancin', everyone'd have a wee respite to draw their wind and the bottle'd go round till they all got a drink. Out of the drinking then they'd all start again. Everyone had to sing..." (McGowan, Voices 21-22.)
For an interesting history of how lobster, which began as a food for the impoverished, became a culinary status symbol, read this article.

⁵⁵McGowan, Voices 24.

⁵⁶The stories listed below may be read in their complete—and engaging—retellings by Joe McGowan in his 2004 book Inishmurray, Island Voices.
1. At Poll a' Phiobaire (Hole of the Piper)  mysterious pipe music was heard.
2. An old woman knitting was seen on a sometimes-submerged small island south of Inishmurray.
3. An enchanted pig invaded a home and replaced the baby with a changeling.
4. A man violated the taboo against shooting a seal, which ultimately caused a mark on his baby.
5. Inishmurray soil can be used to eradicate rats.
6. Swans could never be harmed, lest they turn out to be enchanted children.
7. You should never point at a boat with your finger.
8. The holy well water, when drained into the sea, could calm storms.
9. A jealous man stabbed his neighbor's cow and its blood was transformed into mice.

⁵⁷Heraughty 47.
Edible seaweeds such as crannach, and carrigeen moss, known on Inishmurray as "fúdar," were collected, dried and sold in Sligo town. The drying process required stone cairns with the seaweed enclosed with smoldering coals.

⁵⁸"Inishmurray, County Sligo, Ireland." Sailing: In Your Footsteps. Web. 12 June 2013. <http://www.inyourfootprints.com/sailing/harbours/europe/ireland/donegal/314/inishmurray>. More information here.
Regarding poitín, Richard Stanihurst wrote in 1577:

Being moderately taken, it sloweth age, it strengtheneth
youth, it helpeth digestion, it cutteth phlegm it
abandoneth melancholy, it relishes the heart, it lighteneth
the mind, it quickeneth the sprit, it cureth hydropsis,
it pounceth the stone, it keepeth the head from whirling,
the eyes from dazzling, the tongue from lisping, the
mouth from maffling, the teeth from chattering, and
the throat from rattling. It keepeth the season from
stifling, the stomach from wambling, the heart from
swelling, the hands from shivering, and the sinews from
shrinking, the veins from crumbling, and bones from
aching, and the marrow from soaking.

(Stanihurst, Richard. "Ireland." The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Ed. Raphael Holinshed. Vol. 6. London: n.p., 1580. 8.)

⁵⁹Heraughty 55.
The locations of the hidden whiskey were marked by aligning two fixed points on either side using subtly marked stones. When burying the poitín bottles in the ground, a deep cut with a knife was made in the grass so that it would not be noticed when the piece was replaced.

⁶⁰McTernan, John C. "Illicit Distillation." Rosses Point Shanty Festival. Web. 12 June 2013. <http://www.rossespointshanty.com/Heritage/distillation.htm>.

⁶¹Heraughty 37-39.
Heraughty tells the story of a RUC sergeant who pretended not to know that the mash supposedly prescribed by a veterinarian for a sick cow was actually being using to make whiskey. (pp. 67-68.)

⁶²Heraughty 58-59.

⁶³McGowan, Voices 42.
The author quotes his informant: "If we didn't give the first drop away to the fairies something was sure to happen to the run. Anyone that didn't give it away, the first drop, they were either caught with the police on the mainland or it was stole on them." (p. 51.)

⁶⁴"Big Capture on Inismurray." Sligo Independent & West of Ireland Telegraph 7 June 1924: Rosses Point Shanty Festival. Web. 12 June 2013. <http://www.rossespointshanty.com/Heritage/big_capture.htm>.
In 1877 Fr. John Healy wrote of the Inishmurray "royalty:" "There is an island queen, heretofore greatly reverenced, and of parental authority; but the spread of democratic ideas has penetrated even to this remote spot, so that her insular majesty, like many of her royal cousins, she has had to endure considerable diminution of her prerogatives. She considers the presence of the police as a gross infringement of her sovereign rights; and she would dismiss them "bag and baggage" as peremptorily as Mr. Gladstone would the Turks, if she only had the power. The present Prince Consort is her majesty's second husband, and in the good old times no one could distill so potent and well-flavoured a "cast" as his royal highness. But Othello's occupation's gone; his right hand has lost its cunning for want of practice, and the Jameson of Innismurry is renowned no more." (Healy 435-36.)

⁶⁵Heraughty 73.
"In October 1946 the entire Sligo staff of the Land Commission visited the island to inspect conditions and interview the inhabitants. The islanders received a sympathetic hearing, and Sligo County Council agreed to build eight cottages on the coast opposite the island on land the Land Commission had acquired..." By the time two years later that the island was evacuated the families had dwindled to six. The other two cottages were given to mainland families.

⁶⁶Healy 439.