Lettermullen Leitir Mealláin | |
|---|---|
Village | |
) | |
)  Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates: 53°14′38″N 9°43′34″W / 53.244°N 9.726°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Connacht |
| County | County Galway |
| Elevation | 1 m (3 ft) |
| Population (2002) | |
| • Rural | 219 |
| Irish Grid Reference | L848522 |
Lettermullen, (Irish: Leitir Mealláin, meaning "Mealláin's rough hillside" or possibly "the hill with the mill"), is a small island and village on the coast of southern Connemara in County Galway, Ireland. It is about 36 miles west of Galway city, at the far western end of Galway Bay, Lettermullen is the westernmost of three islands; Lettermullen, Gorumna and Lettermore, along with smaller islands collectively known as Ceantar na nOileán ("District of the Islands") connected to the mainland by the bridges and causeways of R374.[1] Lettermullen is in the parish of Kilcummin, barony of Moycullen, and province of Connaught. It forms one side of Kiegall Bay, and its northern end is part of the shore of Casheen Bay. The island comprises about 250 acres of arable and pasture land. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in herring and cod fisheries and in the collection of seaweed for manure.
Lettermullen is part of the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking region of Ireland) and Irish is the most common spoken language. Accordingly, its official name is Leitir Mealláin.[2]
Lettermullen is connected to the islands of Dinish, Furnish, Inisherk and An Crappagh.
A very well preserved Signal Station is situated near Golam Head. These stations were built all along the Irish coast in the first decade of the 19th century to monitor for maritime invasions.
A picturesque cemetery is situated just south of R374 immediately after you cross the bridge from Gorumna to Lettermullen.
Geology
The northern third of Lettermullan is composed of the same intrusive Devonian-aged granite underlying most of Galway that formed from crustal melting as a result of the Caledonian Orogeny in the late Silurian. The remainder of the island is made up of Ordovician-aged bedrock of sedimentary marine rocks and basalt.[3]
Demographics
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: Central Statistics Office. "CNA17: Population by Off Shore Island, Sex and Year". CSO.ie. Retrieved 12 October 2016. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Famous people born on Lettermullen
.pdf.jpg'))
- Antoine Ó Flatharta (playwright and scriptwriter)
References
- ^ Robinson, Tim (1985). Mapping South Connemara. Folding Landscapes. ISBN 978-0950400235.
- ^ "Leitir Mealláin/Lettermullan Island". Logainm.ie. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
- ^ Holland, C. H. (Charles Hepworth) Sanders, Ian. (2009). The geology of Ireland. Dunedin Academic. ISBN 978-1-903544-49-5. OCLC 679356088.