First Report of the Commissioners Of Inquiry

The State of the Irish Fisheries in 1836

The quay of Clifden is near the eastern extremity of Ardbear Bay, contiguous to the village, and on the estate of Mr. John D'Arcy. Clifden is not a place of rendezvous from whence boats proceed to the fishing grounds, being too far embayed; but its utility consists in affording a safe landing-place, and a certain market for fish to any amount, and in supplying all necessaries for the outfit of the fishery and merchandise for the country in general; there being extensive stores erected on the quay for the curing of fish. And the supply of the necessaries mentioned above. The village is entirely a new creation, and owes its rise to the establishment of the Harbour, and opening the country by the Government roads that have been made.

The plan which was given by Mr. Nimmo consists of a Boat and slip quay, five hundred and eighty nine feet in length, with an elbow or obtuse turn along a cliff three hundred feet in length, for shipping of deep craft, but only one hundred and seventy five feet of the ship quay is finished, and three hundred and fourteen feet in length of the boat quay has been raised within two feet of its intended height. Sixty seven feet of the ship quay, the entire three hundred feet of the elbow or deep ship quay and two feet in height of the boat quay remain undone. Under the contract this work should have been completed on or before the 1st day of August 1823.

In 1822 the Board granted £228 9s 2d towards the expense of this work, including the cost of erecting a breakwater at Doughbeg, about a mile westward of Clifden; the amount of the estimate of the whole being £456 18s 5d; in addition to which, the Board supplied machinery to the value of £34 19s, and contracted Mr. D'Arcy, who undertook to contribute £288 9s 3d for the executions.

The Board agreed to pay Mr. D'Arcy in instalments, as certain portions of the work would be certified by the Boards engineer to have been duly executed; under which clause Mr. D'Arcy received payments amounting to £168 16s, including the value of machinery, and £94 12s 2d now stands to the credit of the work.

It may be proper to observe, that £342 9s 1 and a ½ d (Irish) is charged to Government as expended on this work, exclusive of the foregoing sums.

It is obvious that the work was inadequate to the expense of executing such extensive works, and believing it was not probable they would be completed without the Board's interference, in November last I recommended that the balance standing to the credit should be expended in completing, so far as adequate, which would secure and finish as much of this interesting Harbour as would be at all necessary for fishery objects, and I now respectfully repeat that recommendation.

This Harbour may be placed in the second class for its utility in promoting the fishery.

The breakwater at Doughbeg was included in the foregoing estimate, though a distinct and detached work. It was finished, and is a useful work; it stands in need of some trifling repairs, but the damage being the effect of mere wear and tear, I do not conceive there is any fund applicable to it.

Extract from Mr. Donnell's report of 1829- Notwithstanding the unfinished state of the greater part of these quays, some good stores have been erected on the finished part, and merchant vessels load or discharge their cargoes at them. They bring iron, pitch, ropes, earthenware and take away fish, corn, kelp and Irish Marble.

A few years back there were only some poor scattered cabins about this place; at present there are, exclusive of merchant's stores, several streets of slated houses, church, chapel, School, bridewell, distillery and police office.

The place was heretofore only remarkable for illicit distillation and smuggling; at present it pays excise duties to a considerable amount.

Eight mooring posts and three mooring rings have been fixed in the quays, under the general order for moorings.

Appendix- Conditions of the Fishermen.

Conditions of the fishermen

There is no difference in the morals and social circumstances of the fishermen and agricultural labourers on this coast (Killeries); both pursuits are combined in the same person. For every man who has land is a fisherman, which causes him in a great measure to neglect both; the double pursuits injure both avocations, and if they could be separated by building fishery villages for the fishermen, I think the fisheries would improve, and the conditions of all parties much bettered; and it is my opinion that fishermen may be employed on this coast advantageously every day in the year, fishing or repairing fishing materials.

There is no difference between the houses of fishermen with land and those without it, in both cases they are generally very uncomfortable, or rather they are miserable. Most of the land in this county is in an uncultivated state, except patches along the shore, and generally let very low. When land is let for reclaiming, the rent is about 5s an acre. Favourably situated cultivated land lets at from 12s to 25s an acre; and the little let as con-acre, brings, with sea-weed, from £3-£4 per acre.

In some seasons, fishermen earn a good deal by fishing, but in other seasons, not being provided by capital, when the Herring season commences, they are compelled to purchase on credit, and often before they are ready to attend the fishing, it is over. This causes great distress: but it is the consequences of their not being regular fishermen, and always prepared when the fishing commences. – (Colonel Thompson.)

The fishermen of Scotland have small kilns attached to their houses, for drying fish, Most of the fishermen on this coast are farmers, and a few are agricultural labourers. The use of ardent spirits does not prevail to an injurious extent. The fishermen not being wholly employed in fishing, in consequence of other pursuits, is most injurious to the fisheries – (Mr. D'Arcy.)

The Islands on this coast (Connemara) suffered in common, from famine in 1819, 1822, and 1830. The cause was, in my opinion, the change in the value of money. The price of pork having fallen below a remunerating price, the people ceased to raise a surplus of potatoes for the food of the pig, and therefore had nothing to fall back on in a scarce season.

I am of opinion, that every famine which has taken place in Ireland, can be proved to have followed some unnatural check on national or individual industry; and that the contraction of the circulation in England, and the consequent fluctuation of the markets, will always be followed, at an interval of about two years, by a famine in the west of Ireland.

The fishermen are not wholly employed in fishing; they are chiefly engaged in agriculture; but people of all classes join more or less in the Herring fishery. A division of labour would be injurious to the fishermen, while our population is so much scattered, and the means of obtaining the necessaries of life so easy.

An industrious fisherman, paying in rent only one-fifth of the gross produce of his land, and fishing in his leisure hours, (for there is no occasion to work more than four months on the farms) may get quite wealthy even on three or four acres of land. A mere fisherman could hardly exist. Con-acre rent is about double that of farms.

The widows of fishermen generally occupy the lands held by their husbands, and I have always found them the best tenants. I consider absolute destitution very rare indeed. – (Mr. Blake.)

The Islands of this coast are sufficient to maintain the inhabitants, unless in seasons of famine, occasioned by storms, or some other cause. All the Islands on the coast have been remarkable for being more severely visited with famine than the mainland, as they are more exposed to the westerly wind, which generally prevails on this coast; and when it blows with violence, unaccompanied with rain, in the month of August, it is sure to destroy the potato crop, by burning the stalks. This wind is called, in the country, the red wind. When famine presses heavily, the Islands and mainland receive relief from charitable societies in England, and the Government.

There is very little con-acre in this district (Clifden), and when it is let, a share of the crop is retained by the owner of the soil. When land is let manured, a larger share of the crop is demanded. If this plan was generally adopted through the kingdom, fields of potatoes would not be left in the ground to rot, sooner than pay an exorbitant rent; and it would prevent the law proceedings for the recovery of con-acre rent.

In the winter of 1825, each row-boat, on an average, cleared £10; at that time, at least 2,000 row-boats were fishing. The take of fish has since fluctuated very much, until last season, which was rather good, some row-boats having taken from £30-£45 worth of Herrings, although Herrings sold cheap. – (Mr MacDonnell.)

The Islands of Aran, about thirty miles in circumference, are the property of the Digby family; Population, about 3,000; diminished, within the last three years, 500, by emigration to the United States of America. The Aran emigrants are employed in fishing between Boston and New York, where they obtain a comfortable livelihood; and many others would have gone there this year, but were disappointed in a vessel to take them out; in fact, the passage money had been paid to a person in Boston, by their friends and relations. Now, in my opinion, were employment afforded at home, by the establishment of a company, they need not to have gone abroad. The rental exceeds £2,000 per year, which is considered high, and several tenants are in arrears; the rent of each is from £2 to £6. Some have short leases, and others are tenants at will. They maintain themselves partly by fishing, and partly by agriculture. Distress has been felt in Aran occasionally, as well as in Connemara, by blight of potato crop, particularly in 1822; and relief has been afforded by the proprietor, government and private subscriptions. – (Mr. Morris.)

The fishermen in this district (Clifden) are engaged in agricultural pursuits, which I think injurious to the Fisheries and to agriculture. If they could be separated, it would be desirable, and beneficial to both pursuits; but I think it will take a long time to accomplish it. If the fishermen were congregated into villages, and separated from farming pursuits, and the farmer to employ himself in tillage instead of fishing, it would benefit both parties. - (Captain Andrews.)

All the male inhabitants of Cleggan are more or less fishermen. They are destitute of every convenience; they live in the most wretched hovels that can be described; they are yearly tenants, generally holding lands under freeholders, who themselves are miserably poor. I know of no con-acres let here. The condition of the fishermen is so wretched, that any change must benefit them. The aged are supported by their neighbours, and the widows by begging. –(Lieut. Warren, R.N., C.G.O.)

The most of the fishermen of Mannin bay have small farms for potatoes, corn, and the grass for a cow. I do not know if it has any effect on the fisheries. Those who have land are best off; without it, they would be hard set to support themselves. When not employed in fishing, they go as agricultural labourers, at 6d. or 8d. a day.

Stubble land, without manure, is let for £2 an acre; the average rent of farms is about £1 10s per acre. If the fishermen were congregated in towns, and schools established for education, and instruction in modes of net making, their conditions would improve. – (Mr. Burtchael, C.G.O.)

A loan fund has been lately established at Clifden, but on so small a scale, as to be of little use.

I do not perceive any good effect from the loan fund of the late fishery board; but the fisheries failed at this period, and there was also a failure of the crops along the west coast. At the time of the late fishery loan, fishermen were charged usuriously, as they could not obtain bail or security, unless through the persons who had fishery materials for sale; and for giving security, these persons charged their own price. – (Mr. D'Arcy.)

The assistance from the late Fisheries board rather injured than benefited the borrowers in this district (Renvyle), as it was followed by bad seasons, and the demand for repayment came upon them when greatly distressed. Its failure could not be ascribed to the imprudence of the borrowers. The condition of the people can never be permanently improved by temporary assistance or legislative interference. Steady markets alone stimulate industry and afford employment.

I am of opinion the Agricultural and Commercial bank will do all that is necessary in future as to loans; and the assistance of governments should be confined to piers, harbours, and roads, including bye-paths to creeks. – (Mr. Blake.)

No doubt the loan fund of the late Fisheries Board rendered service, but not that of permanent nature as would be desired. In many instances, it was used in discharging debts to shopkeepers, buying clothes, and other things, and not by any means for the Fisheries or their improvement. – (Mr. MacDonnell.)

I know of no loan fund or savings bank on this coast (Cleggan); the fishermen are too poor to have money in a savings bank.

I do not know the effect the loans of the late Fishery Board produced, but I think a loan to fishermen on this part of the coast would be entirely lost. At present, the fishermen cannot obtain credit on any terms. – (Lieut. Warren.)

I do not consider, on the whole, that the loan fund has been productive of any good effect. I know it gave rise to a system of raising the wind, in order to pay rents to landlords, in which cases the loans were recovered at an expense greater than the amount lent-for inspectors, travelling charges,- and a great number has not been recovered at all. Moreover, when an order was given to a shopkeeper, who notoriously had an understanding with the inspector, it was partly paid in cash, partly in goods of an inferior description, and at an enormous price, and very often not a shillings worth for boats or nets. – (Mr. Morris.)

The area of Clifden has been settled for at least 7,000 years, and possibly as far back as 10,000 years. This Age, known as the Mesolithic or middle Stone Age, was dominated by a hunter/gatherer lifestyle based on fishing, hunting of wild Boar ( the only large mammal in Ireland at the time) and fowling. Important evidence from this period came to light a number of years ago when a spearhead called a “Bann flake” was found by Jarlath Hession in top-soil he got from John Coneys’ farm in streamstown. More recently, a large kitchen midden (an ancient heap of rubbish) mostly Dogwhelk shells, was dated to between 6-7,000 years old. This midden is one of more than twenty from west Connemara and is located on the shore at Renvyle beach. This is one of only three sites dated to the Mesolithic Age on Irelands west coast. The remains of three such middens are to be found on the shores of Clifden bay, where they are dominated by oyster and periwinkle shells. Two lie opposite each other, one at the tip of faul, another at the shore at glenn Irene and a third recently discovered opposite the Clifden boathouse on the shore of Errislannann peninsula, in drinagh town land. These middens are undated and elsewhere in Connemara such middens have been dated to the bronze age 2,000 B.C. and the early christian times, 5^th to the 10^th century A.D. in the Errismore peninsula, south west of Clifden.

Closer to town, Velta Conneely’s keen eye discovered two beautiful polished stone axes while tending her garden on the edge of Clifden. These are very important finds and now are in the national museum and are evidence of early farming communities active in the Clifden valley between 5 and 6,000 years ago during the Neolithic or new Stone Age. These farming communities displaced the earlier hunter/gatherer and cleared the extensive mixed woodland that dominated the Connemara landscape at the time. These communities traded in stone axes and Connemara marble beads and built an extensive series of tombs throughout west and northwest Connemara. There are a number of such tombs in the environs of Clifden, but they’re extremely difficult to find. The first of these was shown to me by the late Kevin Stanley and is located at the base of a drumlin in Ardagh town land south of the town. This tomb still has its capstone intact. To the east of the town, in Couravoghil town land, the late Martin Coyne of Crocaheagla pointed out to me the remains of a beautiful tomb buried in the peat bog. Associated with the tomb are the remains of a pre bog wall, revealed by turf cutting. Similar ancient walls are to be found in the bogs between lough Auna and Shanaheever. These were shown to me by the late Nicholas Coyne. In the same area, Tom Joyce on whose land these sites were found, showed me the remains of an ancient trackway running into the lake. To the west of these, on Martin Coyne’s land, there is a small leaba agus gráinne, as these tombs are more commonly called “ag gob amach as an portach” overlooking the inner regions of Streamstown bay in letternoosh townland.

During the Bronze Age, these tombs go out of fashion around 2,000 B.C and are replaced in the landscape by less visible burials in stone cists or boxes, sometimes with a standing stone or stones above them. One of the standing stones around Clifden Castle is likely to be of Bronze Age date, the smallest one on the mound next to Henry O’Toole’s house and another possible one close to the Midden site on Faul townland, at the mouth of Clifden bay. Others occur, possibly the remains of a Stone circle, on Tom King’s land in Streamstown. In the hills northwest of the town, there is a beautiful hidden lake ”loch an Ime” and overlooking this lake, there is a long cist grave set in a low cairn. This site is covered in heather and was pointed out to me by my neighbour John Conneely and Gabriel Keady of Fakeeragh.

Another cairn of possible Bronze Age date is located in Tullyvoheen, behind one of the houses on the north side of the Clifden to Galway road. The sheltered valley, which envelopes the town of Clifden, with its rich flood plain and meandering river, would have been an attractive place to live in prehistoric times, though most of the structures were likely to have been built in timber rather than stone. Another recent discovery from the Clifden area was that of a Fulachta Fiadh (burnt mound) this site is located at the side of a small spring, on the south side of Clifden bay. It consists of a horseshoe shaped mound of burnt stone. The stones were exposed in the section face of a small path used by the horses from Errislannan manor. These sites were originally cooking sites where water was boiled in a stone or timber lined trough using baked stones from a nearby fire. Other examples of such sites are found overlooking Kingstown bay and there also found on the Island of shark, Boffin and Inislyon, off the northwest Connemara coast. The beautiful mountain valley of Gleann Glaoise, in the Maam Turk mountains, also contains a group of these sites in addition to a number of white quartz standing stones. Fulachta Fiadh generally date to around 1,000 B.C, but can be as early as 5,000 B.C.

The Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age, sometime in 6^th century B.C. though this is a shadowy period in Connemara’s pre-history. A number of sites however may be dated as far back as this, including the spectacular sited Cashel (stone fort) which controls the narrow neck of land overlooking Waterloo Bridge, above Joe O’Malley’s house. The nearby sub town land of Doonen may have got its name from this site. I found this site during a flight over Connemara with my good friend Marcus Casey many years ago. Connemara has relatively few Ring Forts and those that do exist tend to be in defensive positions like this one. On the coast at Fahey, there is a related type site, a coastal promintary fort, which I used to scramble over the ramparts as a young boy to go fishing for Gunner with the Conneely’s, our neighbours, off the cliffs below. Years later, I realised that that bank and ditch was in fact the ramparts of an Iron age fort. Good view of this site from the Scardaun carpark, on the Sky road.

These sites were used up to about the tenth century, and some of them would have had “Clochán’s” or bee-hive stone built cells. The name Clifden may have derived from one such “Clochán” or perhaps a standing stone and I like to think that the standing stone which abuts the corner of the ruined St. Mary’s church may in fact be the Clochán that gave Clifden its name. There are no early Christian church sites in the town, the nearest early site is at Kill, on the Errislannan peninsula. This site is named after St. Flannan. In the current graveyard at Ardbear, there’s a beautiful holy well, Tobair Beggan. Who Beggan was, is sadly lost, though there are over ninety holy wells in Connemara, the largest concentration in the whole country. The well tradition is dominated by the ecclesiastical giants of Colmcille and Macdara. Other lovely wells are associated with Cailín, Feichín Ceannach and not forgetting the great evangelical missionary who came to us from the crumbling world of late Roman Britain, Patrick the Briton. One of the more unusual finds from here are Roman coins found in a bog in Kylemore valley in 1826. They were coins of the emperor Diocletian. The great Lakeland region between Clifden and Connemara is scattered with a wonderful series of lake dwellings, many of which were discovered in the last thirty years, and two very important ones in 2010. One of these was found on Loch Dhúleitir by Ruari O’Neill, artist, guide and photographer, North of Carna. And another very large Crannóg (island Cashel) on Ross lake, near Moycullen.

In the Ninth century, the Con Maicne mara i.e, the dog sons of the sea, were attacked by pagan Vikings from the north. These Vikings never succeeded in establishing viable settlements in Connaught, however, Festy Price of Eryephort did find the remains of a Viking burial in the sands beneath his house following a great storm in the 1940’s. Apart from his long sword, shield and dagger, there was no lasting Viking presence, as the Conn maicne mara, a war like people, saw them off. The descendants of the Vikings however, the Normans, left a more lasting legacy in the region in the form of family names and one spectacular castle, “Caislan na circe”, hens castle on the Corrib near Maam. The most common of these Norman families who were successfully Gaelicsised include the Joyce’s, the Burke’s, the Welshes, the Barry’s, the Gibbon’s, the Guy’s, the Staunton’s, the Pryce’s, The Stanley’s, the De coursey’s . However, these and the original Connemara families, the Conneely’s, the Conroy’s, the Keeley’s, the O’Malley’s etc were dominated by the O’ Flaherty lords throughout the Middle Ages from their great castles at Ard, Bunowen, Doon, Renvyle and Ballinahinch. The O’Flaherty’s of Bunowen were particularly Warlike and from their maritime base, they dominated the coastal waters of Connemara and Aran. Exported from these shores in this period was a luxurious trade item called “Ambergris”, which is derived from the vomit of a sperm whale. It was used both as a medicine and a perfume, and continued to be collected in the 18^th and 19^th century. During the late 16^th century, the great Spanish armada, defeated in the English channel by the English and the Dutch, sailed around Britain and Ireland on their way home September-October 1588. This defeat turned into a disaster, when the autumnal storms drove dozens of these ships on to Irelands west coast, including at least two on to Connemara’s coast. The survivors of these shipwrecks were mostly murdered and or handed over to the English for execution, by the O’Flaherty’s and the O’Malley’s, a small number ransomed, while some were held over, according to English complaints, for the use of the O’Flaherty lords It is unlikely that the swarthy good looks of the Connemara people come from inter marriage with the few Spanish armada survivors who managed to survive.

The wars of the 17^th century saw the destruction of the Gaelic lords, and the confiscation of their lands by the state. Some lesser lords managed to hold on into the 18^th century as middlemen and traders, but Gaelic culture continued its long decline. In the 18^th century however, the ancient maritime skills of the Conn Maicne mara were put to good use when they were heavily involved in a lively, if illegal, two way trade of wool, wine, sherry and tobacco. Connemara became a byword for lawlessness. This trade, together with coastal fishing, which included the hunting of Basking Sharks, brought prosperity into every Cuan, from Cashla to the Killaries. The coast of Connemara is dotted with literly hundreds of small quays, wharfs and slips, though most of these are probably to do with local trade in Turf, Kelp and Poitín, Ardbear bay is particularly rich in such features, including a very large recently discovered quay located on the south shore of Clifden Bay, opposite the Clifden Boat club. Other good examples of large quays are to be found below Morris’ house at Ballinaboy and at rusheen na cara, close to the salt lake. On inner Clifden bay, a number of very simple boat nausts have been identified, which probably pre-date the establishment of the town in the early 19^th century. The trade in wool, butter, wine and tobacco was gradually stamped out, with the establishment of Clifden and the building of a whole series of Coastguard stations, the largest concentration in the country, all along the Connemara coast. The inshore fisheries of Connemara would have been of huge importance to the survival of the Connemara people over thousands of years and the continuation of that tradition is wonderfully illustrated by the surviving usage of Curraghs by the descendants of the Island communities of Inisturk and Turbot. In April 2010, a complex of fish traps was identified on a series of tidal streams that flow from Loch An Saille on the Errislannan peninsula. This ancient way of fishing, using a Cohill (net) is an extraordinary survival. The traps were used to catch Marns, a small fish identified as Sand Smelt by Dr. James King. Mr. John Folan, who showed me how these traps were used, is one of the last practisioners of this ancient form of fishing, whose ancestry can be traced back almost 10,000 years. He has since built a replica Cohill for display in the National museum in Turlough house, Co. Mayo.