The ‘Metropolis of the Rosses’ – Conyngham’s fishing settlement on Inish Mhic a' Doirn - Rutland Island.

by W. Forsythe

One of the most remarkable enterprises ever undertaken in the Rosses was the establishment of a fishing settlement on Inis Mhic an Doirn. In the late 18th century the Rosses were visited by huge shoals of herring which were fished by local folk and visitors from other parts of Donegal, Ireland and Scotland. However with no large-scale curing facility and poor communications to market towns much of the catches went to waste and ended up manuring fields. To remedy this and take advantage of the great natural resource the local landowner, William Burton Conyngham (1733-1796), decided to invest in a fishing station for the area. He chose the island of Inis Mhic an Doirn, which he renamed Rutland in honour of the Duke of Rutland, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

In the early 1780s the island was lightly populated with a small collection of houses at the northern end of the island. These overlooked the deep-water harbour and were sheltered by the sand dunes to the west. The inhabitants included local names such as Boyle, Gallagher, Kildea and Coll. The island was probably chosen because of the deep navigable channel between it and Inishcoo and Edernish. This was an important consideration for the larger fishing vessels Conyngham hoped to attract. Arranmore had more people but with shallow water was difficult to approach, Burtonport suffered from the same problem.

The station was begun in 1785 and was almost complete by 1788.  Conyngham did not lack ambition for his project – a complete town was laid out. It comprised a street system, each road named after his friends, with warehouses, stores, ropeworks, saltworks, dockyard, pub and houses for his workers. Associated with these buildings was a series of quays and landing places all based around the Rutland harbour. At Inishcoo a dockyard was built, and on Edernish there were Cork stores and a saltworks. To improve communications to market Conyngham also upgraded the road system from Mount Charles in the south of the county. The importance of Rutland was such that in some maps the road to the Rosses actually ends at Rutland instead of Burtonport on the mainland.

In order to build the quays on Rutland, a large-scale scheme of reclamation was undertaken. At the north of the island, most of the older houses were cleared away, with a few remaining for stores. The largest quay on the island was originally known as Conyngham quay, and later as Napper Tandy’s quay (recalling the landing of the famous United Irishman in 1798). To build it the bay was infilled between the main island and a small islet. An outer quay wall was built featuring steps in the northern end. The largest stores on the island, and the customhouse were built onto this quay and can still be seen protruding from the sand dunes. Further south, rock from both the main island and another islet, was used to create Union store and two quays on either side of it.

Of the sites on the neighbouring islands, the dockyard on Inishcoo survives in a rather dilapidated state – the enclosing walls shown on McKenzie’s chart (1789) still stand as does Inishcoo house, now renovated. The Cork stores on Edernish are easily missed amongst the bracken and long grass, only the basal remains survive, they are also associated with a nearby quay. The walls of the saltworks can also be traced a short distance to the north on the shore.

Another interesting aspect of the Rutland is the survival of 18th century housing of both native and the new industrial types. The vernacular houses are typical of Donegal single-storey longhouses, although they have been sub-divided and amended in recent years. By contrast the new, industrial-style housing for workers was closely spaced streets of two-storey houses. Of all the streets laid out in 1786, only ‘Tarent Street’ survives (now known as Duck Street). These houses were built to a set architectural plan with neat garden plots to the rear. Although typical of emerging ideas about housing in industrial towns they must have seemed very out of place in the Donegal landscape, and continue to arouse surprise to this day.

The fishing station was not the success Conyngham hoped for, due to the unpredictability of herring shoal movement. After a number of failed seasons it was finally abandoned around 1800. In the early 19th century a number of large-scale storm events impacted the coastline of Donegal. One of the results of these storms was the shifting of the sand dune systems – by 1835 the first Ordnance survey of the island showed the island marked ‘fishing station covered with drifted sand’. Much of the station then remains under the sands of Rutland resulting in the inland structures being more difficult to trace. Those that remain bear testimony to the extraordinary investment and vision of Conyngham and provide a fine example of the impact of improving landlords on a rural, island locality. The result is a uniquely intact 18th century maritime landscape.

The Rutland archaeological survey was carried out by W. Forsythe of the Centre for Maritime Archaeology, University of Ulster and supported by the Heritage Council.