Inishmurray Island, Northern Ireland

Inishmurray, a small island off the coast of County Sligo in Northwest Ireland, four and a half miles from the nearest point on the mainland shore.

Inhabited for centuries, but now deserted by man Inishmurray today contains the most complete remains of an early Irish monastic settlement as well as the ruins of its nineteenth century houses.

Inishmurray was continuously inhabited from the sixth century, although the population waxed and waned through the years.

And it is not unreasonable to assume that there were people on the island before this, perhaps hundreds of years before, since Inishmurray would have been an ideal location for the Formorian sea marauders who once lived on Ireland's offshore islands.