Qualla: Inishcoo

Inishcoo: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Inishcoo is small enough that you might pass it without registering, looking out the window of the Arranmore ferry as it threads through the maze of islands between Burtonport and the larger island ahead. The largest building on Inishcoo is a former coast-guard station in the south-western corner, now a holiday home. There is a derelict cottage near the channel. There is a small lake on the granite interior. The island is a townland in itself, and the channel between Inishcoo and Rutland Island is one of the navigation features the local ferry skippers learn early. People used to live here year-round. Now they come in summer.

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Inishcoo: The Granite Heart

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Inishcoo's interior is mainly rocky, formed of the granite that underlies much of the western Donegal coast. A small lake sits among the outcrops. The granite is the same stone that makes Errigal pink and the Bloody Foreland red at certain angles of sunset, the same rock that was...

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Inishcoo: The Coast Guard House

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The largest building on the island, in the south-western corner, was a coast-guard station. The Rosses coast in the nineteenth century needed watching: smugglers ran goods in and out of these channels, distressed ships went onto the rocks, the relationship between the British sta...

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Inishcoo: Holiday Homes Among Ruins

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Several of the old houses on Inishcoo are now used as holiday homes. Others, like the one photographed for the Wikipedia article from the deck of the Arranmore ferry, are derelict, with rotting roofs and weather-beaten walls. The juxtaposition is common across the Donegal islands...

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Inishcoo: The Channel

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The channel between Inishcoo and Rutland Island, just to the south, is the narrow passage that the Arranmore ferry uses on its run from Burtonport. The skippers know the islands and rocks of the Rosses intimately, the names of every reef and gap, where the tides run hardest, wher...

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Inishcoo: What Remains

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

There is not much published about Inishcoo. The Placenames Database of Ireland records the Irish name as Inis Cú. The cottage that stands largest on the island has its own website, advertising itself as accommodation for those who want a Donegal island all to themselves for a wee...

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